What he certainly hadn´t planned
by Picaro
Summary: Weiß are taking up a member of Schwarz without knownig who he is. Will he manage to survive the Weiß-household? With a couple of snipers at his tracks? And a special handicap, like, being a bit younger than he actually should be?
1. 1 Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Weiß Boys don't belong to me ... neither those of Schwarz ... or anything of Weiß Kreuz . . . . . non profit made ... so don't sue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Please review!!!

Warning: attempted humor may be following later, shonen – ai, first fic I've ever wrote

What he certainly hadn´t planned 

A Weiß Kreuz Fanfiction by Picaro

"O fuck!" That was Yohji. Although it could have been anyone of the four gathered assassins. 

They were on their way back from a successful mission when they stumbled over it in a deserted alley.

IT was a bleeding boy caught up in a spider-like net of thin wires, which resembled Yohji's an awful lot. Those wires were attached to the lowest window of a rundown house and were so tightly wound around his body that the slightest motion of his would inevitably result in chopping himself into tiny pieces. The boy already had several badly bleeding gashes all over his body and wasn't looking like he could take it any longer. 

For an incredulous moment, Yohji was wondering just what the heck had moved someone to do something like that when the boy made a soft whimpering sound. It was so soft that even Yohji, who was standing direct in front of him, nearly had overheard it. The boy, who was hardly older than Omi when Yohji had first met him, slowly raised his head and blinked at them with eyes that were misted with pain. The pain he was in was all to clearly written across his face. In an exhaustion-strained, shaken voice he choked out the words "…please . . . help. …… I…can't … any ….. longer …..". Then he fainted. Instantly, Omi dashed over and steadied him before he could succeed in slicing himself up. 

"I wonder if he actually knows that we are here." Yohji mused while he and Ken were holding the wires so that Aya could cut them. As soon as the boy was freed from his restraints, Ken shouldered him.

"What now?" he asked, giving his friends a questioning look.

"What 'what now'?", Yohji inquired. "He needs medical aid, and that quickly!"

"But we can't bring him to a hospital! There'll be too many questions."

"Kenken, use your head for once. Of course we won't bring him to a hospital! We have enough medical stuff at home to aid him there!"

"I'm against it!", Omi suddenly said. It was the first time that he said something on the matter. Three pairs of eyes turned to him. 

"Omi!", Yohji fumed, "Since when are you so cruel?! He's dying right in front of our eyes! Should we just look and do nothing?!"

Instantly, Omi stepped back a few steps. Turning a slight shade of red, he stammered "Anou … No!! That's not what I meant! Of course I don't want him to die! I mean, it's- it's just too dangerous to do that! What if he finds out about Weiß? We'll be getting real problems then. We'll probably get killed. And not just the four of us! He too!"

"And how should he do that? He's unconscious!", Yohji retorted angrily. This situation was riling him up. For some reason, he had the feeling that he had to help this kid, and the others were just standing there and doing nothing!

"Ahem, guys?" Ken inquired. "It would really help if you'd find an agreement soon. He's bleeding an awful lot." 

Both Omi and Yohji, stared a moment at him, then turned simultaneously to their leader, who had stayed silent till now.

"Aya?", they asked. 

The silent redhead stared shortly at them.

" . . . . Let's go home."

And with that, he headed in the direction of their car. With a short glance, Ken followed him, trailed by a smugly grinning Yohji and a worried looking Omi.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Bradley Crawford woke up with a groan, just to be greeted with a wave of pain in his head.

With a low curse, he put his hands on his throbbing head and waited till the pain started to ebb away. It was nothing unusual for him to wake up with a headache since he had joined Schwarz. Living together with an outcrazed psycho with a thing for knifes, a seemingly always depressed telekinetic and a perverted telepath, whom always tried to peek into your head, could do that to you. But this time it was even worse than usual. Crawford had the feeling that he had just been chewed up and spit out again. Slowly, he opened his eyes again. That was when he noticed the bandages.

Nearly all of his arms were tidily wrapped up in white bandages. In fact, he noticed that nearly his whole body was covered with bandages. _'Well, that would explain, why I feel so beaten up.' _Carefully he examined the bandages. They were professionaly wrapped and covered a series of large, deep cuts. Experimentally, he touched one of them and flinched as a new wave of sharp pain waved over his body. The cuts had to be some days old because no blood followed his rash action, and the bandages were clean. He had no clue how he had gotten them, though.

Blinking, he reached to his bedside-table and fumbled for his glasses. They weren't there.

And this was definitely not his room. Alarmed, Crawford sat up and _'Ouch!! Bad mistake!' _Slowly, he lowered himself on the bed again, carefully avoiding each hasty movement. After the new pain had subsided, he did a new, much more careful try of finding out where he was.

The room he was in was bright, with sporadic but well-chosen furniture. He was lying in a king-sized bed with silk sheets. Before he was able to take a closer look at his surroundings, the door opened and he found himself gaping at the newcomer.

Crawford knew the well-built, brown-haired youth just too well. _'Siberian'_ The iron-clawed Assassin who normally fought against Farfarello. With the slightest note of relief, Crawford took note that the Weiß member was wearing what would be his civilian clothing. It consisted of a simple v-neck, a pair of well-worn denims, and . . . an apron?! He blinked at that. It was definitely a green apron. _'What the hell is he doing in an apron?!'_ Then another thought struck him. He was alone, obviously hurt, without any weapons; hell, he hadn't even his glasses or anything to wear! Even if he somehow managed to overpower Siberian, he'd still be cornered.

Right then, Ken ended his conversation with whoever was outside and turned around. As soon as he noticed Crawford sitting on the bed, a big grin spread all over his face.

"Ah, so you're finally awake! You slept so long; we weren't even sure if you'd make it. You sure scared the shit out of us kid!"

- - - - End Chapter1/Prologue- - - - 


	2. 2 mirror, mirror, on the wall

Disclaimer: ...still not mine.... don´t make any money with them, so don´t sue. It´s just for fun.

Author ramblings: Waiihh!! Someone actually read this (Chp.1)! And rewiewed!!! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!!! You´re great!! So you wanna know what happened to Brad? He, he, he ... Not only you! **:** ) Well, English isn´t my mother tongue, (that´s German, if anyone cares), so grammar errors are bound to happen. Did you actually know that ´him´ can be written wrong? I do now. sweatdrop 

What he certainly hadn´t planned

Chapter 2

by Picaro

"Alright! Alright! We can change shifts!", Ken shouted finally. Yohji had pestered him for changing shifts for about half an eternity, and now he finally had enough. _´Better to do two shifts in a roe than to hear this any longer.`_

"Ken! You saved me!", the tall blonde cried from the other side of the corridor. "To cancel this absolutely hot date would have been my sure dead! Well then, I have no time to waste! See ya later!" And with that he dashed away.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say", Ken murmured and turned to face the real reason why he had come up here. When they had brought the kid back here some nights before, he had been in a real bad shape. Despite his earlier worries, Omi begun immediately to clean the cuts and wrapped them up properly. After he had been aided Yohji had carried him up to his room, where he still was. 

Still, the boy had already lost much blood and it was in question if he would wake at all. Ken honestly hoped so. He could understand Omi´s worries quiet well, if the boy would find out about them they would high probably be expected to kill him as a witness_. ´To be honest_, the brunette thought, ´_I don´t think that I could do that.` _He was so caught up in his thoughts about that, that he nearly didn´t notice that their special house guest was wide awake when he entered the room.

"Ah, so you´re finally awake! You slept so long, we weren´t even sure if you´d even make it. You sure scared the shit out of us kid!", he greeted the boy, who was sitting wide-eyed on the bed, cheerfully.

The boys eyes widened just a little more at that. Ken paused short to take a closer look at the kid. He looked pale and confused, but out of that alright.

"Ah . . ."

Ken´s grin widened. " No need to worry. We found you three days before and brought you here. You were pretty bad injured, ya know. How do you feel anyway? Better?"

A week hesitate nod was all the answer he got. It was all his dumbfounded opposite could muster. Of course, Ken didn´t notice it at all. His grin just widened a little at this answer. Swiftly he stepped to the bed and checked the boys temperature by placing his hand on the others forehead. Satisfied with the outcome, Ken stepped back and made his way to the door.

Turning back, he smiled "Glad to see you´re alright again. Please wait a sec! I have to go and tell the others! They were really worrying." _The most, that is. Can´t tell if Aya was or not. _

And with that, he was out of the room again.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford stared after the retreating brunette. `_Now I know how Schuldig´s victims feel.`_

Right now he had absolutely no clue of what was going on. 

From outside, he could hear how somebody tumbled down the stairs. The noise got followed with a loud crash and someone talking. Whoever it was, he didn´t sound very pleased. 

Confused Crawford tried to reorder his tangled minds. _´Alright, First: I am in the headquarter from Weiß.´,_ that was pretty obvious. _´Second: I got attacked by someone three days ago. Weiß found me and brought me here. Third: Out of some strange reason they don´t recognize me.` _Actually he didn´t want to think about what would have happened _if_ they had. Running his fingers over his forehead, Crawford repressed involuntary the urge to shudder. He had never before noticed how big hands Siberian had. The brunette hand easily covered his entire forehead with his palm. 

Returning to the actual matter at hand, he checked the room he was in again for possible escape routes. The other members of Weiß would come soon and he wasn´t knowing if it was just Siberian who didn´t recognize him, or not. Crawford wasn´t wanting to try his luck, actually. _`Damn. Nothing´_ The only exits of this room was the door through Siberian had left just before and a window. He sighed and murmured a low course under his breath, while he carefully pushed himself completely up and out of the bed. 

A wave of nausea swept over him as soon as he was on his feet. Brought out of his balance, Crawford stumbled a few steps forwards until he regained it back. He paused a moment to catch his breath and continued then. There was a window, but it was to high for him to jump. ´_Great. That leaves the door as only exit. Just have to try.´_ Sighing again he made his way to the door. This was certainly not his day. Carefully evading to make any treacherous noises, he pushed besaid door open and waited for a moment. He released the breath he had been holding involuntary, as no furious voices answered his action. Then he slipped quickly outside.

He was now standing in what seemed to be a small corridor with a few rooms and a staircase on the other side. From downstairs he could hear voices. Crawford recognized some of as the ones of the Weiß members, others seemed to be from young girls. This set his course of action. Slightly irritated Crawford turned to the opposite direction. Just as he reached the last door the sound of somebody coming up the stairs caught his attention. Instincts taking over, Crawford swiftly slipped in the first-best room. And sweatdropped. He was in a bathroom. ´_This is _definitely _not my day.´_ Quick he checked it for any hideouts. None_. ´Why have I already seen this coming.?´_

This was _absolutely, definitely_ not his day. This was when something caught his attention. To his left was a sudden movement. He froze. And scolded himself for being so jumpy. A mirror. 

It was merely a simple mirror. Just that it wasn´t showing his reflection. 

Frozen in shock Crawford stared at the image before him. Somehow it was awfully familiar. The mirror was showing the image of a slim young boy with short, tossled raven-black hair. A few stubborn strands were hanging in his face and accented greatly with his amber-brown eyes, whose were wearing an highly irritated, suspicious look. His whole lithe body was covered with white bondages what made him look even smaller and more fragile than he actually was. The too big silk shorts he was wearing did their thing to strengthen this look even more. Startled Crawford realized that the boy was hardly older than Nagi. 

__

´What´s tha…?´ And then it clicked. In lightspeed Crawford´s mind lined all the strange events that had occurred together. _`The bondages . . .kid . . .and the mirror image`_

And two and two made four. 

Slowly Crawford looked down, hoping to be wrong. That it _wasn´t_ his reflection. His look fell on the too large shorts hanging around his hips. Then he looked back at the mirror. They were the same. It _was_ his mirror image. If he wouldn´t have been Crawford, he probably would´ve screamed or would´ve been shocked at last. But because Crawford was Crawford he directed just one of his infamous glares at the image. Before he could do anything else, someone knocked at the door. Twirling around, he stepped to the door and opened it.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Omi sighed in relief as the bathroom door opened a bit to reveal their guest. Although he had first been worried about bringing the boy into their home, Omi was now more than happy to hear from Ken that he had woken up and was alright. He never enjoyed to see someone die, and seeing someone die whom you are trying to safe was even worser. 

It had been quite a bad surprise when he´d found the room empty.

Gratefully Omi had been considerate enough to check the other rooms before he went to alarm the others. _´Good that I didn´t alarm the others. Ken probably would´ve fallen the stairs down the another time, if he would´ve heard that the boy had just vanished.´_ Omi thought to himself while he smiled gently at the other boy. The distrusting sparkle in the others face didn´t vanish. "Hi", he greeted cheerfully, " I´m Omi. Ken-kun said that you were awake and I figured that you would need some clothes." He held the bundle he was carrying up a little more. "So since we seem to be the same high, I thought I could borrow you some of mine." The black-haired boy eyed first the bundle than Omi suspiciously. Obviously awaiting that a poisonous snake or something else awkward would jump out of it.

Omi stifled a small sight. _´He´s looking like he´s ready to run for his dear life.´ _That was an understatement. Omi could tell that, even if the face of the other boy didn´t give a hint of his expressions, his eyes were. They were shining in such a shell-shocked desperation, like Omi had seen just once before in the eyes of a human. The other time he had seen this expression, he had been looking in a mirror just after that kidnapping episode of his. With the memories Omi felt also the terror and the pain he had went trough coming back. And with them came also something more. Anger. _`Whoever has done this to him, he will pay for that.`_ Noticing that the other had watched him the whole time, Omi quickly pushed all those thoughts away and smiled reassuringly. "You can take them without worries. I can reassure you that they aren´t poisoned." The boy glanced startled at him and took then the offered clothes with a mumbled ´thanks´. 

This made Omi grin happily_. `Seems like I wasn´t the only one who was lost in his thoughts.´ _Then he noticed that the other one was slowly retreating back into the bathroom. Omi´s grin grew more gentle. "Are you going to take a shower?" Nod. " Then you have to be careful with the bondages. The cuts must be healing, thought. So you might be able to just take them off. The towels and such are under the sink. Come just down when you´re finished."

"Um . . .yeah. alright."

With that the door was closed again. Omi peeked at the door for a moment and turned then to head back to the shop. He wasn´t sure if Aya wouldn´t strangle someone, if he wasn´t returning soon. Pissed enough was he when Omi left. On his way his thoughts turned back to their guest in the bathroom. _´Hmm... He´s speaking English.´ _It´d been quite easy for them to figure out that he wasn´t from Japan. _´But he seems to understand japanese. Or he´s good at guessing.´_ This was making the whole case just more odd. Why would someone attack and torture a gaijin boy like that? And why? Racists? That didn´t seem to be quite right with Omi. There had to be other reasons also. And Omi was burning to know them.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

End Chapter2


	3. 3 killershowers

Disclaimer: Still the same. Not mine (except the idea for this story), no profit, bad grammar,...

Author ramblings: Tadaa!! I´m back! With chapter3! Umm, what was I wanting to say/write again? Oh, yeah. I know! Great thanks to everyone who reviews this!! Especially to Koyuki Aode and Blume-chan! (You really got me there! Making such mistakes in the first sentence...´`.´`*. Anyway, ask whenever you want! ´`_´`) You guys are what keeps me writing! Well, that´s it. Hope you enjoy reading.

What he certainly hadn´t planned

Chapter 3

by Picaro

"Um …yeah. alright." and with that he closed the door again. Heaving another little sight Crawford put the bundle of clothes away and made his way to the bathtub. Then he started to unwind the bondages, revealing many fine red lines criss-crossing all over his skin. They were already healing and reminded Crawford slightly of Schuldig´s last encounter with a cat. (A normal one.) A slight smirk crept over Crawfords features at this thought, despite the situation he was currently in. The latest performance of the redhead had been just to fun to forget. 

Directing his attention again at the shower Crawford started to turn the faucets, adjusting the water temperature. Satisfied when this task was finished, he placed the handle of the shower on the taps and started to climb into the tub when he noticed something. He was still wearing the shorts. Quickly shrugged off, they landed on the floor and Crawford slipped into the tub. 

And slipped a second time.

´´WLAMM!!``

The next thing Crawford registered was that he was lying sprawled out on his back, debating with himself if his backbone was broken or not. _´It certainly hurts enough ... ´_ Sitting up again, the next approaching disaster immediately caught his attention. Some time during his first encounter with hard reality, the handle of the shower had somehow managed to loose itself – and currently a strong jet of water came out of it. 

Strong enough to move it. 

__

`Surely you don´t think that I would let you ... ´ Trying to prevent the coming Crawford reached out to grab the handle.

´´SPLASH``

He´d had just enough time to close his eyes before he got drenched. Silently fuming he wiped his face. _`Well, I wanted to shower... But not face first!`_ He´d been in a bad mood before, and now he was pissed. He was certainly not going to be made fun of by a simple shower. Directing his own glare of death at the still dancing shower, Crawford let out a deep growl. _´Alright. This means war!`_ And with that he lunged at the self-proclaimed water spouting dragon.

Some water, sliding, slipping and cursing filled minutes later Crawford got finally to his warm shower.

Slowly relaxing he started to rearrange his thoughts. He could tell with safety that that wasn´t one of Schuldig´s mislead pranks. Not even the german could fake pain that good. And about his current state... As long as he didn´t do anything to suspicious, he was safe here_. `About safety ... I wonder from what those came from?´_ he thought, while examining the cuts again. First he had thought that he had gotten them from Weiß or a fight, or probably both. These options were out of possibility now. But who then? And why? _´ Seems like I´ll just have to try my luck with Weiß.` _

Still, he hadn´t liked the expression which the young Takatori´s face had taken on for a short moment. _´I really thought that he had recognized me.`_ To tell the truth, Crawford had been ready to dash. He really preferred not to think about what would happen, if Weiß found out who exactly they had brought home. _´Home...`_ A slow grin appeared on his face. _´At least I can spy on them a bit, while trying to find out what´s happening.´ _

When Crawford stepped finally out of the shower, a sight of disaster greeted him. The whole bathroom was under water. I was really a half miracle that the prepared, dry clothes weren´t soaked as well. Putting them on, Crawford shivered slightly. They felt alien compared to the suits he normally wore. _´I doubt I could get one in my current size. Well, If I don´t want them to recognize me I´ll have to act anyway.´ _

Glancing at the state of the room, he sighted. _´At last I have a good excuse for taking so long.`_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Omittchi, you sure that he´s awake?"

"Yes, I am Yohji-kun." came the exhausted answer. Yohji was asking Omi the same question over and over since he´d come back into the shop. Now they were sitting in the kitchen and he was still asking. Slowly it was getting monotone. "He´s doing fine."

"If he´s fine, why´s he not coming down then?"

Omi scowled at him. This was getting old. "I already told you that he´s taking a shower." Yohji waved his hand in a lazy manner. "Yeah, yeah, … But over an our?!" Omi rolled his eyes. Yohji was overdoing it again.

"Why don´t you go upstairs and see yourself?" Ken asked from where he was making their dinner. 

Yohji grinned "Into the bathroom? No, Kenken. That you´ll have to do yourself." 

Ken glared back at him. "What are you trying to intimate Yohji? Don´t take me like yourself." Yohji´s grin just widened. "Why, who´s the one always playing with little children in short soccer shorts ?" Ken turned a deep shade of red at that.

"Hey! What are you trying to say?! You –" 

Omi decided that it was better to stop them now before a fight would ensue again. "Hey, guys. Guys! He´s probably just taking a little longer." 

"Yeah. Or he´s scared. Waking up and finding yourself in a house of a stranger has to be scary."

"You say it. And Kenken being the first thing you see after waking up, mind you…" 

´´ . . . . . . .``

"Yohji! Stop teasing Ken! And Ken-kun! Stop throttling Yohji-kun and go back cooking! I think something´s burning."

Ken yelped at that and rushed back to the counter from where smoke was emitting, immediately releasing Yohji.

Huffing indignantly Yohji returned to his seat on the kitchen table, just to stop in mid track goggling over Omi´s shoulder at the door. The young blonde was sitting with his back to the door so he could only see the expression on the others face, which was priceless. Curios about what had surprised the other man so much Omi turned also and felt his jaw hitting the floor. In the door was standing –

"Holy fuck, we´ve kidnapped Crawford´s little brother!" Count on Yohji to find the right words.

Omi hadn´t noticed it before ,but the boy standing in the doorframe was really looking A LOT like Crawford. 

Enough to pass as his younger twin brother. 

His twelve years younger twin brother ,though. His still wet, jet-black hair was now combed back with a few stubborn strands of hair hanging in his face. He had the same darkish-handsome features like the leader from Schwarz though they were a little bit less sharp with a childish - soft edge playing underneath them. His face was dominated from a pair of amber-brown eyes, shining with an unreadable expression in them. _`Yohji´s right. He´s really looking like him. Just without glasses. Though I can´t imagine Crawford in this outfit.`_ Omi grinned at the thought of the dreadful Oracle of Schwarz wearing instead of the ever-present creme coloured suit a green, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of simple dark blue-jeans. It seemed like something ridiculous, impossible ever to happen. 

"Wow" exclaimed Ken surprised. He had also turned at Yohji´s comment and was now just as open goggling like the rest of them. Before the silence was getting too awful Omi´s quickly cleared his throat, jerking his other team mates back into reality. Ken turned instantly back to his cooking (which was quite well cooked by now) and a big grin started to spread over Yohji´s face. Seemed like he had the same idea like Omi and found it very amusing.

"Why don´t you come over and take a seat? There´s no need to be scared from Yohji -kun and Ken –kun. They are very loud, but they don´t bite." He invited the other nicely.

Yohji amed a fake punch at him. "Hey! I´ve heard that." Omi grinned. "Gomen, Yohji –kun" Yohji answered with that lazy grin of his "Don´t be, bishonen. After all it´s true."

After the other was seated he gave them a strange look which made Yohji grin even more. "Hello there. I´m Kudou Yohji. That´s Kenken -" Overhearing the use of his nick name, Ken turned once more, smiling. "Hidaka Ken. Call me Ken." "- and Omittchi there, you´ve already met." Omi smiled warmly. "Tsukiyono Omi. Glad to meet you. Just call me Omi." He introduced. "Yeah, And me Kudo-sama." 

Ken burst out laughing. The thought of somebody calling Yohji ´-sama´ was too much for him. Soon Omi joined in.

Yohji shot them a mock glare. Then he gave the kid an indignant look and sighted overly sorrowful. "Why don´t I get at last a little respect? There I´m working together with this guys for years now and what´s the reward I get? " Another theatrical sigh. "They are laughing at me! Injustice is the worlds reward." At that Ken and Omi dissolved into uncontrollable laughter accompanied by occasional giggles. Even the Crawford-lookalike broke into a grin.

At that the tall blonde clutched his chest with one hand and did a fake impression of a deadly wounded. "Ashes over your heads. Just what have I done to deserve this?!" Ken said something inaudible to Omi and they laughed just harder. Not even Yohji himself maintained to hold his impression of hurt innocence up any longer_. ´Seems like the both aren´t that identical´_ Yohji turned his attention back at the boy. A sly grin crept at his face.

"So, boy. Mind to tell us how you got your back hurt?" Meeting the boy´s surprised look, he added "Easy to tell. When you were sitting down you winced. And you weren´t injured at the back. So?" The other one tried to evade his questioning look. 

"The shower tried to kill me."

"WHAT?"

Everyone stared at him. He looked up to again. A amused gleam was playing around the corner of his lips and also shone in his amber-brown eyes. Otherwise his expression stayed perfectly composed. "I said: The shower tried to kill me."

Omi shot Yohji a questioning look. _`How could a shower possibly be trying to kill somebody?´_ Yohji just shook his head. _`Probably he slipped ?`_

"Ne, Yohji-kun… ? 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

When Aya had finally finished closing down the shop, a strange sight greeted him when he entered the kitchen. Not the usual one, mind you , but a different even stranger one.

Ken was cooking, Yohji and Omi were discussing something and a strange kid –the injured boy they had brought home a couple of days before- was watching them with a slightly amused look on his face.

Ken was first to notice him. 

"Hey Aya! Perfect timing. The food will be ready every minute now." the cheery greeting came. Aya looked shortly at the still discussing couple at kitchen table who didn´t seem to take notice from them and rose one eyebrow. Ken followed his look and grinned sheepishly. "Well, you see, Aya, we were a little worried ´cause he took so long and when he came down Yohji noticed that he had injured his back, but he said that the shower had tried to kill him and … so…" Another fine red eyebrow joined the first one. _`The shower has tried to kill him? Don´t tell me that Omi and Yohji are discussing how a shower could kill somebody.`_ Exactly that was what they were doing.

Aya stifled a sigh. _`Are the totally nuts?_` Then he registered something else. _`He? Haven´t they asked for his name yet?`_ He sat down next to the boy, startling his team mates. They looked up from their conversation to look at Aya. 

"Aya –kun! I didn´t know you were there. When did you come?" Omi chirped. "Quite a while before. He was watching you guys and your little conversation." Ken answered from the counter, mixing a few moments with a few minutes. "Oh, really?" Yohji drawled "and you just eavesdropped at that chance, ne Aya-chan?" 

Aya didn´t deign to look at Yohji, least answer his question. 

"Who are you?" His voice was as monotonous as ever, not giving a single hint of his thoughts.

Noticing the doubtful look the boy was giving Aya Yohji added. "It´s okay. Don´t mind his manners, he doesn´t have one. This is Fujumiya Aya." Obviously he was still in the mood for teasing (and risking his life, in Aya´s case). Aya just glared at him. Immediately the blonde backed down, waving his hand in played defeat. "Hey, come on Aya. Don´t you have a sense of humor?" Like it seemed he didn´t. Yohji sighed and leaned back in his chair. "So?" 

" . . . . ."

The boy looked suddenly down, evading their eyes. Slowly the silence was growing awkward.

"Um, you do understand Japanese, don´t you?" Omi asked after a while.

The boy glanced up, meeting their eyes for an instant. "Aa."

"So? Speak up, boyya. How´s your name?" Yohji probed. The other one was still evading their eyes, his answer coming out as a hesitant whisper. "I…I don´t…know. I can´t remember"

Shocked silence followed this statement. After all it was Omi who found his voice first.

"You …really? You don´t remember it?" The other one shook his head numbly. "And how about you landed in these strings?" "Mmm-Mmm" 

"And your past?" Yohji´s detective instincts had kicked in. 

"Sorrowfully no."

"You don´t look like you´re very sad about it."

The boy looked up at this, his face clouded. "Yeah, I know. But somehow I have the feeling that it´s better that I´ve forgotten something." Yohji thought over that. "Hmm…What´s the last thing you can remember?"

The boy blinked. "The last thing I can remember…?" He closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them again there was a strange faraway look in them. "Blood… lots of blood. .. threads like a spider web… I was caught in them … there were also other people

…one woman, I think …couldn´t see the others, but they were there… I know it…they´re dangerous…pain…-" He looks up "That´s all I know."

The four exchanged looks. Obviously they were thinking the same. _´Amnesia?´_ Surprisingly enough it was Ken who spoke first, announcing that the dinner was ready. Fife damping plates were placed in front of them and soon they were eating in silence, everyone busy with his own thoughts. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The food was quite good despite the many times Siberian was distracted. 

Internally Crawford had been crossing all of his fingers when he´d told Weiß about his `amnesia´. He´d come to the decision that it would be easier to pretend having lost his memory, than to think of a complicated story. Also, as a former private detective Balinese would probably have found errors in it. O yeah, Crawford was knowing very well of past of each Weiß member. With his gift and Schuldig in his team he didn´t have much of a choice. Still, Kudou had given him quite a shock with his exclamation. _`For one instant I´ve really thought they got me…´ _

He looked up when he felt an intense glare resting on him. Abyssinnian. Of course it was him who was staring now openly at him, his face expressionless like always. _`Why do I somehow have the feeling that he isn´t believing me?´_

Crawford met his glare solemnly, not willing to give anything away, less to retreat.

It came first to his mind that doing this was a little suspect when Balinese made a joking comment about their glaring contest.

Silence settled once more over them when everybody seemed to search for the right words to say. Then Yohji startled everyone with crying loud out. "I have it!" Everyone looked at him.

"What do you have Yohji-kun?"

Kudou gave them a complacent grin. "Omi, you said that he was speaking english first. ?" Both youth nodded hesistantly. "That means that he has to come from America or some other english speaking country."

"Hai."

"Sounds right."

" . . ."

"So why don´t we call him Bradley?"

Crawford sweatdropped. Everyone else facefaulted. 

"Yohji-kun..."

Yohji gave them a smug grin. "Well, that way we definitely won´t forget him. Or has anyone any better ideas?"

"Well..."

"Ehm..."

"Hn."

Yohji grinned. "Alright then! You any problems with that?"

"Eh ... No." Crawford answered, still dazed. _`Someone out there really hates me.`_ He was beginning to get a headache.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

`Brad´ had excused himself quickly after that, declaring of being tired. The four members of Weiß were still gathered at the kitchen table, discussing what to do. 

"Well, we´ve given him a name. That´s means that we are going to keep him, ne?"

"Ken-kun. He´s not a stray kitten which you can keep or give away." Omi reprimanded. Yohji smirked again. "But Kenken´s right. We HAVE given him a name. And it´s pretty clear that we won´t send him on the street again."

"U-hum, that was clear after we´ve brought him here."

"Yohji, why in the world have you named him like that? Calling him after the Oracle."

Yohji´s grin widened even more. "Well, he might be american and we´ve already settled that he´s resembling him a lot. Just younger and without glasses. So why not? That way we won´t forget about him." Noticing the still scowling Aya, he added. "Oh, come on Aya! He´s just a kid. What damages can he do?! We´ll just have to watch what we are saying when he´s near. And otherwise he´s not the real one! Tough it´d be pretty useful if we would have our own pocket-sized oracle."

Omi blinked. Aya appeared even thoughtful than before. "Aya-kun, you seem distracted. Something´s bothering you?"

"You don´t believe him, don´t you?"

"Hn."

"Hm, I think I believe him."

"Yeah, I too. What do you think Omi? As an expert with such cases, I mean."

Omi shrugged. "Well, I think I believe him. He didn´t look like it now, but he was really scared before." "Yeah, I noticed that too." Ken inquired. Yohji grinned lazily. "Don´t bother, Kenken. I´d also be pretty disturbed if I woke up and you´d be the first thing I see." He teased. Ken shot him a glare. "Yohji! Finally stop teasing Ken-kun." The taller blonde grinned lazily "Alright, alright. Whatever you want, bishonen." Then he suddenly changed to seriousness. "But the real question is: Do we tell Manx now, or not?" 

Omi blinked at him. That hadn´t been expected. "Tell Manx? Didn´t you yourself say that it would be better if she doesn´t know about this?" Every trace of something else than seriousness had vanished from Yohji´s face by now. "Yeah, I said that. But this amnesia-story is changing everything. We´ll have to find out if he´s telling us the truth or not. He might be a mere runaway, but he could also be involved with a slave trade ring or something even worse. From the way he´d been tied up when we found him I´d say someone wanted to get rid of him. And probably still is." Omi grinned half-heartedly. "Alright. I got it. I´ll check out if I can find anything about him or similar missed causes in the computer." 

Yohji grinned again. "That´s a good boy." He ruffled the shorter blondes hair and excused himself, telling something about having a date to attend to.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Crawford was woken up when something heavy impacted with the mattress.

His headache had grown worser and so he´d gone to sleep earlier than expected. To his surprised he´d quickly fallen asleep then. _´I must´ve been injured worser than I´d first thought.´_ In his sleep-dazed state, his first instinct was to kick Schuldig for trying to sneak into his bed again. Then something came to his mind. He wasn´t in his room, in the headquarter of Schwarz. He was in a room of the headquarter of Weiß!

And somebody was lying right next to him.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

End Chapter 3

AR: Well, that was it. 

How do you like it? Too long? Too short? Boring? Funny? Interesting? Exiting?

Just drop a note. Even if it´s just ´xxxx was here`or ´I read this story`.

I´m gratefully for nearly everything. ´`.´` Comments and contributional 

Criticism are more than welcome, flames will be fed to my cat. 

(His name´s shredder after what had happened to my last notice book. ´`-´`*).

Any ideas for pairings anyone? 


	4. 4 bedbugs

Disclaimer: Everythig what belongs to Weiß Kreuz is mine! laughs like cray Uh-oh ... does a mad dash from the LIB´s (Lawyer´s in black) Ok, Ok! It´s not! It´s not! It belongs to all the people with the rights of it, not me! ´`´`* I´m sorry! Entschuldigung! Pardonne moi! Gomen nasai!, oh shit HELP!! 

and the moral of the story: don´t claim what´s not yours if you´re not good at your feets ´`.´`*

Warnings: I´m back! With chapter 4! Great thanks to everyone who´s been reviewing! tries a bear-hug and is promptly stopped by a rather ´hard´ computer screen ...Oroo! ´`.´`# So, warnings: probably mild beginning of shonen-ai (depends on how you want to see it), not so perfect grammar (put up with it, I´m already using a dictionary! ´`´`), ... Alright, that was it! On with chapter4! Let´s slowly get some speed into the whole thing!

What he certainly hadn´t planned

By Picaro

Chapter 4

One of the leading first-class luxury hotels of the world.

The pool water was sparkling in the warm light of the afternoon sun. The few scattered guests were refreshing themselfes in the crystalline liquid in the pools or were lazing in the warm, caressing rays of the sun. The few who could afford this sort of luxury were high above the normal class of luxury-tourists and so it was normal that they were more than awe-causing to the bellboy who was nearing one of the deck chairs.

"Mrs. Tannin?"

A couple of sunglass-hidden eyes turned at him. 

"Yes, sonny?"

"There´s a call for you."

A fine eyebrow came up at that. The swimsuit clad woman looked at the phone in his hand as if she´d be seeing it for the first time. The dark swimsuit and the silk pareo which was tied around her waist were giving more of her nice curves than it was comfortable for the poor boy. Even more because she had shifted when he had spoken to her, so that he was now having a rather good sight at her décolleté. 

"Uhm...Miss? It´s from Japan."

"Oh." And with that, a slim hand, grazed with fine tattooed patterns, stretched out and took the phone. "Here you go. I appreciate good work." She handed the bellboy a bill, dismissing him.

She waited till he was out of hearing range before she finally answered the phone.

"Yeah? Tannin here. … Problems? Speak up."

Her expression darkened at what she was hearing. When she continued speaking her voice had grown a sharp edge.

"What do you mean with you lost him?! After what we´ve put him through, he shoudn´t have been able to go three steps, speak from escaping from the security net and the guards. …"

"…What? Your instructions were to make him speak or to kill him and you what?! … What do you mean with ´supposed to´? Are you trying to tell me that someone has broken in and has stolen him? A ´corpse-napper´ maybe?" Pause. "You GUESS?! "

"Wait! Let me get that straight… In a window… In open public… while you were drinking coffee. …"

"…I don´t care if it was a hidden alley!! Your instructions were to make him speak and get rid of him! Is that so difficult to get? FIRST make him speak, THEN get rid of him."

"…Stay where you are. We´ll be there ASAP." //click.//

She cursed under her breath while trying to get her composure back. Then she dialled another number. 

//Click.//

"Hello Jilocasin? Tannin speaking."

"Sammy, ma chere, it´s so good to hear from you again. Still enjoying yourself in luxury?" A cheerful, french accented voice asked. "When will you ever learn that those rich yuppy´s aren´t any good company to you?"

Despite herself Tannin grinned. The Frenchs tendency to mix different languages failed seldom to enlighten her mood. The seriousness he was speaking with was making it just funnier. Still, this wasn´t the right time for this.

"Sorry to ruin your plans for vacation, but there´s work to do." She could literally see him frowning on the other end.

"Work? Immédiat?"

"Yeah. Right now. Those brain-miracles in Japan have reported a case of supposed-to-be corpse-napping, just now."

"Supposed-to-be corpse-napping?"

"Don´t look at me. My vacation ´s just as much ruined as yours."

"And le corpse is who I´m thinking he is?"

"Yep. That´s why I´m calling in the first place. He vanished three days ago, no traces. Get Memoiré and place yourself in the next plane. Seem´s like we´re making a nice long trip to Japan, so polish your japanese knowledge."

" sigh …Oui, oui. At your command, my lady." //Click.//

Tannin sighted and put the phone away. She´d have to be careful with Jilocasin. The French was acting like a smart easy-going, but she knew just too good how dangerous the man could be. But if He was still alive she´d need Memoiré too much in this mission to risk anything. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

As he realized the situation he was in Crawford was with one hit wide awake. _´God! If Schuldig gets to know about this I´ll never hear the end of it.´_ To think about the readhead wasn´t the best decision Crawford had made. _`_If_ I´ll manage to get back, that is.´_

Now that he´d started to think about Schwarz worries started to nag at him. Although his story about amnesia was nothing more than made up fiction, there was a grain of truth in it. He had added the story about the tormenters but it was true that he´d woken up within those strings. What Crawford hadn´t told Weiß was that he´d been awake for what had seemed to be hours, standing in the same awkward position because he´d soon realized that any wrong move would bring him certain death or at least serious damage. He´d also kept to himself that the had just tried to get help when he realised that he was about to loose consciousness. 

__

`I can´t even guess where they are now...` The last time Crawford had seen them was at the downfall of Estet. _´Or even if they still are...`_ quickly Crawford pushed this thought away. 

__

´Of course they are alife!´ He was and he hadn´t seen it seen it coming. And Weiß made it also! So with their powers they just had to survive!! They were Schwarz after all! No crappy collapsing building could possibly stop them! 

Desperately Crawford tried to find other good reasons for their obviously absence. _`Probably they just haven´t found me yet.´_

__

`...or maybe they aren´t even looking.` A bitter little voice in his head added. Schuldig should be happy without anyone around pestering him about work that was to be done or his mindless actions. And Nagi´s been mad at him since that accident with that Schreient girl... Farfarello probably wouldn´t even notice that he was gone. 

__

`Wouldn´t be such a big surprise after all... guess that nobody would really mind if mister `stickinhisass´ was there or not.´ Angrily he tried to silence those thoughts. Of course he´d known about this things. He was knowing about everything that happened in Schwarz.

Still, the thought of this possibility being true was even more hurting than the former one of them being death.

__

´If I could at least remember what happened back then!´ From a certain spot on there were several holes in his memory. The last thing Crawford could tell for sure was that there was a strange light coming from the room where those old idiots had tried to execute that strange ritual of theirs. He´d noticed it because he´d just been passing by as it had started. The light had been followed from a slight shockwave from an explosion which had swiped him from his legs. From this spot on his memory was blank.

He didn´t know how he had made it off of the crumbling building. He didn´t know how the rest of them were. And he didn´t know how he´d gotten in his current situation.

__

´SHIT!!`

His current situation!

He´d gone daydreaming (in the middle of the night ´`´`) while he was lying with a more or less unknown under the same sheets. An unknown who just happened to be Weiß. 

Okay, not the same sheets. Crawford had the only sheet tightly wrapped around his body. But still! 

The body next to him shifted. Crawford froze. After a while the other one stopped again. Great. Just great. Now he was lying even closer to him than before. Close enough for him to smell the faint scent of alcohol, mingled with the sweet scent women were using. In short: The other one was smelling like drinking and women. Crawford wrinkled his nose. _´Well, that cuts the possibilities down to two.´_ Somehow the thought of Bombay or Abyssinian running trough the apartment, obviously totally drunk didn´t seem fitting to him. _`That means two down, still two remaining.` _

Readying himself for whatever might come Crawford turned his head to look at the person next to him. Silently he was praying that it was just some huge dog. And sweatdropped. _`Yeah. Bull´s-eye.´_ If that next to him was a dog then it was the strangest one he´d ever seen. A strange dog with wavy blonde hair and lazy green eyes if they were open. (No, no golden retriver!) A really strange large dog who was still wearing his dating outfit included shoes, silently snoring in his deep alcohol induced slumber. 

__

´I am really lucky. Balinese, the Weiß equivalent from Schuldig.´ Crawford thought sarcastically. As if on cue, Kudou started moving again, this time trashing with his arms. 

Promptly he succeed in smacking Crawford squarely in the face.

__

´. . . . .!` Crawford groaned. _`He´s even just such a restless sleeper as him.`_ Rubbing his damaged face, Crawford started to think the possible choice of courses. He discarded the thought of waking the blonde up or leaving the bed immediately. If he would also react like the readhead the other time... Crawford had really no desire to go trough the same mess again. Not without a bottle of aspirin, enough work to burry himself in, and the ability to shout at the other one as much as he wanted. As he finally got to a satisfying decision, Kudou ruined everything with shifting again, throwing a heavy arm around Crawfords shoulders.

Suddenly lying face to face with Kudou Crawford held his breath again. It´d be just absolutely great if the tall blonde would wake up now, just to find the two of them in a situation like this. _`Don´t wake up! Not now! Don´t you dare waking up now!` _

Kudou´s breath evened out until he was peacefully asleep again. Looking into the others peaceful face Crawford let out a deep breath. _`He´s still asleep.`_ After some minutes had passed by the arm started getting heavy. Carefully he wriggled one of his feet's from under the blanket. Then he proceed into kicking the other, hoping that he wouldn´t wake from this. It functioned. Kudou mumbled something that sounded like " ....s´ka." and turned again, freeing Brad. 

Crawford immediately backed away until he reached the edge of the bed. There he came to a rest. Balinese had turned his back to him now and resumed sleeping. It didn´t seem to be a peaceful sleep anymore, though. Instead of trashing around he had now started to murmur and whimper in his sleep. Out of curiosity Crawford tried to listen but the words were too soft and too incoherent for him to understand. Crawford nearly felt sorry for the other man. _`Strange guy. By day he´s playing the big carefree playboy, and at night he´s whimpering in his sleep. ...´ _Nearly. His face was still a little bit too sore to feel real pity. _´Hump ....His own fault. To get himself drunk like that...` _

Giving the blonde a last look he turned over and tugged the sheet over his head. _`This is going to be a long night...`_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Ken awoke to the peeping sound of his alarm clock. After he had pushed the snooze- button the fifth time and it was still buzzin´ he clawed himself out of bed and onto his way to the bath room. No matter how often or hard he was hitting it, it still kept being noisy, never allowing him to doze another fife minutes before facing the rough day. Sometimes he really hated his alarm clock. And sometimes he suspected that Yohji or Omi had somehow reprogrammed that damn thing. 

Anyway, he was on his way to a nice, cold morning shower when the sound of quarrelling voices reached his ears. 

Now, that was nothing especially new in their household. Just that he was normally one of them. Curiosity taking the better of him, Ken turned and headed in the direction of the voices. _`Sounds like Omi and Yohji._` While Omi´s voice sounded very excited and maybe a little accusating, Yohji´s replies were very low and short. He also sounded totally confused.

In the back of his mind Ken wondered what Yohji was making here. The blonde playboy had spent the last few nights out of house, announcing that their guest would need a really bed to rest and him being the one with the best chances to find a nice, comfortable place to stay over night. Normally Yohji would use every chance he´s getting to sleep as long as possible. And now he was not only there, but also awake! That was more than enough to make Ken more than curious.

Soon he spotted the two. Omi was standing in the doorway to Yohji´s room, agitatedly talking to the other. Yohji was sitting on his bed, still wearing the same outfit like when he´d left the day before.

"I can´t believe that you´d just done that, Yohji-kun. Didn´t you even notice that the bed wasn´t empty?" Yohji gave him a confused look. "I already told you that the bed was empty when I came in. He wasn´t there." His voice was hoarse and he looked like he was more asleep than awake. 

Ken stopped behind Omi in the doorframe. "Huh, where´s Brad?" Omi jumped. "Ken-kun! Stop scaring me like that! First Aya-kun and now you. Is this some sort of game?" Despite his words he grinned at the taller soccer player. Ken returned the smile with one of his own warm ones and retorted "Sorry, Omi. Didn´t intend to. But what´s going on here? And why´s Yohji there?" "´Cause this happens to be my room, Kenken. And would you two mind stop shouting? My head´s ringing." Came the answer from the bed. 

Ignoring Yohji, Omi turned to Ken. "He´s having a hangover from yesterday. I think he came somewhen last night and just fell into his bed." throwing a look at the still fully clothed blonde on the bed and the tangled sheets lying on the floor beside it. "I wanted to check on Brad before I go to school and found him sleeping wide sprawled on the bed." "And Brad?" "Not there."

"I told ya that he wasn´t there." Yohji hand finally managed to pull himself to his feet and was now joining their conversation at the door. "Have you already check the bath room?" Omi gave him an exhausted look. It was clear that he wasn´t very happy with him at the moment. (No, nothing like that, you hentais!) _`Drunk as he were, I doubt that you would´ve noticed him and if you were lying on top of him.´ _Of course Omi didn´t say anything resembling that out loud. He had no desire for arguing so soon in the morning. So he just gave Yohji instead a last dark glance and left. "I´ll go searching for him."

Ken watched Omi´s retreating form. Then he turned to Yohji. Somehow he couldn´t believe that the boy had just run away in the middle of the night. "You sure that he wasn´t there?" Yohji sighed " To the I-Don´t-wanna-know-how-muched time: Yes." "So he was there?" "No. He wasn´t. Listen, Kenken."

Now it was Ken´s turn to look confused. "I do. But you don´t make much of a sense. Anyway, what are you making here? I though that you were staying with some women." Yohji grinned his lazy grin at that. "Yeah. But I got drunk and forgot that little fact somehow."

Pushing beside Ken trough the door, he added. "And now I´m going to find a nice, warm shower. My head´s killing me." And with that Ken was alone in the corridor. 

Looking after him Ken cursed himself internally for letting Yohji first into the shower. Now he could forget his shower! Yohji was going to stay there until there was no hot water left for anybody else. Still chiding himself he allowed his look to wander around. It was strange but Ken somehow knew that Brad was still there. _´Not that it´d make any sense if he was telling the truth and then running away.´_ It´d really make no sense to run from the only place where one could be helped. 

Suddenly something caught his attention. The blankets were stirring. The movement were ever so slightly, barely enough to be visible if he looked hard. A grin formed on his face as the small frame of a teenager rose out of it. Well, at least he tried to untangle himself. Too bad that the blanket seemed to be an different opinion. Ken leaped forward just in time to catch him, before he smacked face first into the floor. 

So it came that poor Kenken found himself with a lithe teen which happen to be named Brad clinging at his arm and the front of his shirt. The boys feet were still tangled in the sheets. Ken´s grin widened as he lifted the boy a little so that he could untangle himself. As soon as he was free Brad released his firm grip on Ken and stepped a little back, bringing some distance between them. 

Ken chuckled openly now. "Normally just girls are throwing themselves at me." For the fragment of a second a slight blush coloured the others face. "That wasn´t on purpose. Normally I don´t do that." Looking at the sheets next to the bed, he added. "Normally I also don´t sleep on the floor." The brunette grinned at that. "Sure. You´re lucky that I was a goalie once."

Brad nodded. Studying Brad Ken suddenly had an idea. "Hey, do you play soccer?! I´m training some kids out of the neighbourhood, so why you don´t just come along?" 

Brad stared at him. That couldn´t be his seriousness? Slowly he shrugged. "Uhrm...I don´t think that I´d be so good at it..." But Ken brushed all objections to the side. "Oh, come on! It doesn´t matter how good you are. Just that you have fun." Then he turned his best hurt-little-puppy-look at him ( He´d learned that trick from Omi). "Come on! Please! Just one Time!"

Crawford backed slowly away. He sweatdropped. Having a member from Weiß who was currently older than him, looking at him that way while asking him to accompany him to a soccer game was more than strange. "...No."

"Please. Take at least a look at it......-" And so it went on for about a half hour or so. Finally Crawford gave in and it was settled that he would come to the next soccer practice. 

Ken was quite happy with this outcome and already about to start cheering out loud when something else popped into his mind. He frowned "Anou, ... but I´ve switched shift with Yohji. That means that I´ll have to cancel the practice today." Brad lit up as he heard that. _´That means hat I still have a week to find a solution for this.´_ Not noticing his delight Ken continued, smiling again. "We´ll just have to delay it at tomorrow!" Crawford sweatdropped again. This time a little more. 

Glancing at the clock Ken turned to go. "We´ll have to hurry if we want to have breakfast before opening the shop. I´ll meet you at the staircase in fife minutes!" And with that he dashed to his room to change, not minding the dazed Brad Crawford he left behind. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Weiß hadn´t been willing to let him to the shop where they seemed to work as a cover, so Crawford subsided into spending it in his room. 

* * * *

"An own room?"

"Hai. We set the room actually up as a possibility for Aya-kun´s sister to stay, but since the college she´s attending is on the other site of town, she´s living together with a friend in her own apartment. So it´s seldom used."

Crawford glanced at Omi who was guiding him trough the apartment. "But why wasn´t I staying there then?"

"Yeah... Well, I had much work to do for school so I asked Ken-kun to do it. Ken-kun was working in the shop and training the kids therefore he asked Aya-kun to do it. Aya-kun was working the whole time in the shop so he told Yohji-kun, who asked Ken-kun again and…-" Omi shrugged sheepishly, a smile playing around his lips. "- so on. I finally did it yesterday, after you went upstairs again."

Crawford nodded.

* * * * *

The room Crawford was now in held the usual pieces of furniture. A bed, an television set, some seats and a closet.

Now it was middle in the night and Weiß had went out for a mission. This mean that Crawford was free now to search trough the whole apartment without fearing to be noticed soon. What he needed was a computer. 

O course Bombay had allowed him to use his but he hadn´t wanted to have anyone looking over his shoulders. It would´ve been a little different to explain why he was knowing this particularly links. 

Stopping by the first door Crawford peeked inside. Greeting him was a picture of utter chaos. Various things were strewn all over the floor and a soccer ball was lying just so on the floor that one had no other choice but to trip over it. ´_That would be Siberian´s room.`_ He closed the door again and went to the next one. Locked. _´Probably Abyssinian's.`_ One room later he was rewarded with the sight of a down shut computer. _`And this would be Bombay´s room.`_

He slipped inside and turned the device on, patiently waiting ´till the connection to the net was built up. Crawford quickly connected with the special side Nagi had put up once for them and checked for any relevant signs of the other three. He finally stroke gold as he looked at his mailbox. 

There was a message from Schuldig. 

Crawford breathed out in relieve. Though it wasn´t making many sense, it was at least a proof that the annoying readhead wasn´t dead.

Quickly he typed / Schuldig, where are you?/ and send his own message at the German´s address. The answer came surprisingly fast. 

/At our appointed meeting place of course! Bradley, where the hell are you?! I´m waiting for hours!/

Crawford frowned. Their appointed meeting place?

/Which meeting place do you mean?/

/What do you mean with `which meeting place´ ? In München of course! Before the Frauenkirche. In an internet-café. You yourself made that meeting point up! You slowly growing old, or what?/

A smirk crept over Crawford´s features as he read that question. _´Far away for that, far away.´_

/I didn´t made it up. I´m still in here Japan./

This time the answer took a little longer. /In Japan?! You chokeing me? The mail I got came from your address! Also sounded like you./

Crawford´s frown deepened. _`Someone´s using my address?´_ He didn´t like the idea from somebody else hacking through their system. Sternly he typed.

/That wasn´t me. I don´t know who it was. You know where prodigy and berserk are?/

/Aren´t they with you?/

/No. Come back as soon as possible. It seems that somebody had managed to hack into our system, so be careful with it. I´ll search in meantime for them. Crawford./ 

As Crawford clicked the send icon, a sudden vision of Bombay standing in the room struck him. Cursing the changed the web page to one which held the current news on it. He barely managed to disguise his tracks before the light was switched on with a click. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Schuldig frowned at the last message from Crawford. If it wouldn´t have been their up-tied leader he would´ve sworn that somebody was playing a choke at him. A very bad one, too. But that was Crawford and Schuldig doubted that the man had anything resembling humor in him. 

Still the thought of somebody else fooling around in their communication net wasn´t very welcome to him too. Even less when he thought that those very same somebody had managed to send him somewhere into the blue.

He had gotten that mail shortly after that god-damned Estet incident. Although the mail hadn´t been signed, the fact that it had come from the americans address in their wide distance communication net had been enough proof for him. It had held the instructions to split up in order to mislead any possible persuer´s. Schuldig should meet up with him in front of the womans-church in Munich at the named date. 

Back then it had seemed logical enough for him. Though, admittedly he should have grown suspicious as Crawford hadn´t shown up in time. It wasn´t like the american to come too late. Not to a date with a Schwarz member, that is. Schuldig knew that he hadn´t any problems to let one of their ´clients´ wait_. `How to the hell should I´ve known that somebody would manage to hack into Nagi´s program?!`_

But so he´d waited in this internet-cafe for hours, with nothing more to do than to than to send naggin´ mails to Bradley and peek into the present persons minds. Which proved to be terribly boring. _`Those bore´s are just too simple minded! Can´t they think about more than three topics?` _

Suddenly a well-known feeling tingled at the corners of his mind. Somebody with mental shields was approaching him. Sadly for the person the shield´s weren´t strong enough to hide it´s presence.

__

`So you were thinking that you could catch me like a little helpless kitty, huh?` His usual smirk crept over his features as he silently readied himself for the attack that were to come. _`Wrong thought, mein Lieber.` _

"Mister Schuldig?" 

As the readhead heard the faint click of a released safety catch he was ready. "Ja?"

//BANG//

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter4

mein Lieber – my dear

Ja – yes, yeah

AR: So, I´m ending this chapter before it´s becoming to long. Well, watcha think about it? Liked it? Please review!! Pretty, pretty please!

Reviews, contributional comments and any suggestions (events, pairings) will be looked at every evening and morning, flames will be fed to my shredder on four legs. Outch, stop poking me, I´m already saying it! Greetings from him too!


	5. 5 hand luggage!

Disclaimer: Still the same. Not mine (except the idea), no profit, bad grammar,...

Author ramblings: Wow! Phew, this is really already chapter5?! I never thought that so many would read this. And review, too!! ´`_´` Great thanks to everyone who reviews!! It´s you what are keeping me writing! 

Many answered my question about the pairings. Right now Aya and Yohji are neck to neck. Wanna change that? ´`.´` Just drop a note! Well, that´s it. Hope you enjoy reading.

What he certainly hadn´t planned

by Picaro

Chapter 5

Omi was surprised when he found his rooms door open. _´I´m sure I´ve closed it when I went downstairs.` _Manx had brought them a new mission this afternoon and he´d been hacking through the targets security systems, while the others where outside, doing the ´action´-part of the mission. He´d done it in the mission room to make sure that Brad didn´t notice anything about Weiß. 

The mission itself wasn´t very difficult. Just a simple get in, get the wanted data and get out thing. Of course it´d be best if nobody noticed their presence. Which was the reason why Omi had used the computer in the mission room. This one was more compatible for hacking into the target´s system and providing the others cover. The interesting about this mission was that the data seemed to be about some smaller sub-organisations of Estet. 

The mission was over now and Omi was about to go to sleep when he noticed that somebody else was in his room. Soundless he made his way to the still open door and peeked inside. He was mildly surprised when he realised that it was Brad. _`What is he doing here?´_

The other one seemed to havn´t noticed him by now. Leaving his cover Omi stepped inside and switched the lights on. Surprised Brad turned around, looking slightly shocked. Omi grinned at him. "Hi." "Hi." Stepping up, Omi peeked over the other teen´s shoulder at the monitor. "What are you looking at?" Brad shrugged his shoulders, looking a little bit uncomfortable. "Just at some news-sites. I thought that maybe..." he trailed off. Omi looked at him. "And? Found something?" Brad shook his head with a sight. "No. It seems like nobody´s missing me." 

Omi´s eyes widened a little bit at that comment. It sounded just so awfully familiar. _`Just like it was with me`_ Giving Brad a reassuring smile he answered. "Don´t say something like that! Of course they are missing you! You probably just haven´t searched enough. Let me try."

A slight shimmer of a smile appeared on Brad´s lips. "Yeah. I´d appreciate that very much. I´m not that good with computers." Omi nodded reassuringly and started to search the net for anything relevant. Brad watched in silence.

Omi nearly lost himself in his search, when suddenly a low whisper reached his ears. "Don´t you wanna know what I was really doing here, in your room? Without telling anybody? Or maybe even asking you?" Brad had stepped up behind him, mimicking his previous pose. The way he was leaning over Omi´s shoulders made his lips nearly touching Omi´s ears. 

Omi gulped. He hadn´t noticed that the other one was so near. So close that Omi could actually hear him breath soft and evenly, could even feel the body warmth that was radiating from him. Somehow it made him feel uncomfortable. "Well.., anou.., I told you that you could use my computer if you want to and my room wasn´t locked…" he stammered out. "That late at night?" Omi could feel the other one smirk over his shoulder. "….." "You don´t know it, don´t you? The answer of all this questions?" Omi still couldn´t find an answer. Was this really the same boy that he had spoken with in the afternoon? He sounded totally different. Self-confidence was literally radiating from him now. 

Brad had left his place behind Omi in the meantime and was now leaning against the computer desk, looking Omi straight in his eyes. A real smirk was playing now around his lips, his eyes having a predatory sparkle in them. Slowly Omi was feeling like a little bird between the paws of a cat. Caught in a situation from where he could impossibly back out. 

Seeing the frantic look in the teenagers eyes, Brad´s smirk vanished. He looked totally calm, his menacing aura having vanished with his smirk. Looking at Omi with an unreadable expression, he asked. "You´re quite easy-trusting for a computer-hacker, you know?"

Omi blinked, baffled. That was coming totally out of the blue. "Huh? What? How did you know? ..Ah! I mean, Why do you think that I´m a hacker...?" _´Shit.´_ Instead of simply bluffing his way out, he´d managed to give himself away. What if he was now going to find out all about Weiß? Omi dreading the though about the consequences of that happening. 

A soft chuckle brought him back to reality. Brad was still sitting at the corner of the table, but now his eyes were shining with mirth. "Well, ya know, I could claim to have recognised all those little gadgets there," he gestured at the general direction of all the little computer-accessories that were placed around the main tower, "but to be honest, I just guessed." 

Throwing a look at the obviously relieved Omi , he added. "Seems like I guessed right. You are a hacker." Seeing no sense in further denying, Omi nodded, sending his dark-blond bangs flying. "Hai." "Do the others know about this?" 

Well, that was a good question. Should he admit that Aya, Yohji and Ken were also involved in his? Or would it be safer if Brad was thinking that Omi was the only one with a little secret? The dark-haired teen seemed to be quite sharp and Omi wasn´t the best liar, so the main question was: Should he risk it? If Brad noticed that Omi was lying to him he would definitely start poking more around and maybe find about Weiß. That was quite a risk. 

Hoping that Brad would mistake his squirming as nervousness, he finally answered "...No" avoiding to meet eyes with the other. "But I haven´t done anything wrong with it till now."

Looking up, Omi noticed that Brad was serious again. Only his eyes were giving hint of his feelings, shining with an unspoken amusement. Even though, Omi wasn´t having the feeling that the other was laughing at him. The expression was to warm for that. Too honest. Like had just seen something truly amusing. 

Brad slowly stood up and stretched. "No need to worry. I was just being nosy. I couldn´t sleep and decided to try my luck at the computer. Actually, I wasn´t even knowing that you four weren´t home until I came here. Where were you anyway?" 

Omi flinched at that question. _´This just had to come.´_ Now he had to provide the others a cover a second time, this time at home. "Oh, we were out clubbing with Yohji-kun, but I became tired so I went ahead. The others should be home soon, too." Surprising how easy this lie went over his lips.

Brad stretched again. "Alright. Then I´ll leave you now. It´s gotten pretty late, or should I say soon?, and I´m tired." The last part of the sentence was accompanied by a stifled yawn. He briefly paused at the door. "Oh yeah, I´d really appreciate it if you could help me in my search."

Omi stared wide-eyed at the now closed door. _`That was ...strange.`_ For a short moment he´d seen again a shimmer of something else in the other boy. _´As if he´s having two totally different sides.`_

As Omi was musing over the possibility of Brad having a split personality a shrill mechanical beep announced that a new mail had arrived. Wondering who would send him a mail at this time of night, he turned to look at it.

*******

Hello Crawling!

I heard that you were in town again, so I tought `Why don´t you ask him if he want´s to play with us?´. The game´s `Wer hat Angst vorm Schwarzen Mann?`, I´m sure you know it.

So, Crowley-chan! 

Are you afraid of the black man? –I´m sure don´t. But what are you doing if he comes?

-Then you´re running far away!

Love, Voivre

*******

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford was really glad when he closed the door behind him. Luckily he´d managed to irritate the youth enough to keep him from asking dangerous questions or to start doubting his story.

As less successful as the day had been, the information that he´d been able to get had made up for it. Now he knew that somebody was trying to get Schwarz into his fingers and that the same person had tried to split them up. This person was also high-probably to be belonged about the state he was in. 

Although the headquarter of Weiß was probably the most safe hiding place, Crawford couldn´t wait for Schuldig to show up. He preferred to take part and control the situation than to wait ´till he got found. He´d just have to wait and play his role until the redhead was there. 

Somewhat relieved about this outcome Crawford allowed himself to drop into his bed again. 

Just that it was already occupied. 

Cursing Crawford jumped up. _`No, not again!´_ Couldn´t one get some sleep in this house?! Preferably in his own bed? It looked not so. 

Being hit square with Crawford´s whole body weight, which wasn´t much right now but still enough to ensure an awful awakening, the other one started to move. Murmuring incoherent curses he grabbed his damaged side and slowly squirmed into a somewhat upright stance. 

Puzzled chocolate-brown eyes met Crawford´s own amber-brown ones. "Huh? B´rd? Watcha doin´ in m´room?"

__

`Well, now he´s awake.` Though not by his senses. Crawford regarded the still half asleep brunette with a cool look from where he was sitting on the bed. Hidaka was now fighting himself up in a sitting position, revealing his bare, muscled chest. His dark brown hair was more ruffled as usual and his eyes were clouded with sleep. "This is my room. You´re lying in my bed." 

Ken shook his head. "Nnn-Nnn. Thah´s my room. I know it is. It´s the second locked room. Th´ first´s Aya´s and the s´cond ´s mine." Crawford still looked at him. "I locked my door." 

It took Ken some time to comprehend this as a logical objection. In the meantime Crawford had started to puzzle out how somebody could manage to doze with open eyes without dropping.

"Aaa…"

And with that Siberian dragged himself up, out of the bed and to the door. "Then I better go th´ my room." It took him several minutes open the door and let himself out. 

Crawford watched in silence. _`At least it´s not getting bored here.`_ He undressed himself and lied down, noting that the bed was still warm where Hidaka had been lying.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Ken dragged himself sleepily to his room. He was more than tired by now. The mission had gone ´till far past midnight and he had to open the shop in the morning. He wanted too sleep!

Reaching the door, he remembered that he had locked it. Being much too tired to go back and get his key from the pockets of his clothes, which have stayed in Brad´s room, he broke the lock and went in. Ken didn´t even realise that he had forgotten to lock the door before he´d went on mission. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford heard the faint click of a lock, followed by the sound of a door being closed and a faint crash. 

__

`He found his room…and his soccer ball.` 

He debated for a short moment if he should go and make sure that Siberian hadn´t accidentally killed himself, when the sounds returned. 

With a sigh Crawford fought the feeling of loneliness which had started creep up in him, down and resumed himself to sleep.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

In the meantime the airplane was cruising with high speed to it´s destination in Japan airport.

__

`What are you doing?`

Tannin unlocked her eyes from the laptop who was resting in her lap. "Me? I´m bringing myself up to date." Mentally she added _`After all, not everybody can do that as easily as you.`_

The french telepath grinned. _`Jealous?` `Not at all. After all I have my own advantages.`_

"And I thought that Laptop's and mobile phones aren´t allowed on flights?" Jilocasin inquired grinning, leaning himself over so that he got a better sight on the little device. "If I´d known that, I´d brought my cerular phone with me."

Tannin smirked at the curious man. "It´s a cellular phone, Jil´. Let´s just say that _this_", pointing at the laptop, " a little bonus of the first-class is."

Jilocasin nodded his approval. "So, what were you doing?" "Not easy to be distracted, aren´t we?" He frowned at the blonde woman sitting next to him.

Tannin chuckled. "It get´s said ...that things are starting to move. The telepath has really showed up in Munich." Jilocasin raised an eyebrow questionaly. "And?" 

Tannin grinned to herself, having her attention redirected at the machine resting in her lap. "He got away. Took two of our men´s out and vanished again.- Seem´s like he´s really that good as it´s said."

The french chuckled under his breath. "Good thing´s taking his while." Tannin didn´t bother to look at him "And also, I´ve gotten a first trace from Crawford." "Who?" "God, Jil´. Don´t you ever look at the target´s personals? Brad Crawford, American, twenty-seven years old, leader of a group called Schwarz. You _do_ know about Schwarz, do you?" "Of course I do." Jilocasin pouted at her. "Do you think I´d forget about our payment? But names, ah, names are not more than sound and smoke."

He looked again at her, this time interest written over his features. "A psychopath, a telekinth and a telepath. And this American. I don´t get why you need Memoiré for this." Tannin gave him a exasperated look. _`Didn´t he ever listen?`_

"Because said American happens to be a clairvoyant, that is. I don´t want to chase him trough that whole goddamned country." "A seer?" "I know what you think, but don´t forget that he managed to become the leader of this wide-varied little group. What could you get from Memoiré?"

Jilocasin grinned to himself. "A active seer also? ... Hm, Ow I didn´t get much from her. Just some stumbled together memories. Pictures. Impressions. The event you´re asking for is too near to be more precise." "And?" "They are much too jumbled to be of any help-"

"Jilocasin, spit it out!" Sigh. "As you wish. There were some images of a big, black dog or maybe a wolf running around a graveyard. Two angles without wings, one from heaven, one from hell, standing before a grave. That´s all." "A grave? What for a grave?" Jilocasin quickly described it to her. 

Tannin grinned. "Thanks. You just spared me much time with this information." Jilocasin gave her a confused look. To him these pictures weren´t making any sense. Looking again at the laptop, he asked. "What were you writing?" "Oh, just a mail for our dear prey. As a greeting." He looked at the text. "Who´s scared of the black man? Play-child." Tannin shrugged. "They know anyway already that I was fumbling with their net. So why not?"

The french gave her still a doubtful look. "Where have you Memoiré anyway? I can´t see her."

"Oh, I stashed her with the rest of my luggage in the baggage-room." And noticing his companions look. "The advantages of first- class flights."

"...You know . . ."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The following day was one of those to be described as perfect. The sun was shining in a clear blue sky, the birds were singing, children were playing and so on. Everything was so perfect sweet and nice that Crawford had the feeling to get ill if he had to look any longer at it. _´A sheer postcard view. Come and visit Japan, the country of happy dreams and other cute trashiness.´_

Crawford was in a foul mood today. He hadn´t gotten much sleep the last two night´s and to top all of it Siberian had managed to drag him to a little soccer field in the park. _`Not that I had much of a choice...`_ Sullenly he kicked a stone away which happen to lie in his path.

Abyssinian had been following him around the whole day, glaring holes into his back. Slowly Crawford had gotten the feeling that the tall readhead had just been waiting for a good moment to jump at him and attack. _`He´s certainly suspecting something.`_ So when Ken had showed up, Crawford had had the choice between accompanying him to soccer or staying alone with a somehow pissed looking Aya. _´Yeah, great choice.`_

His foul mood hadn´d gotten better with the passing of the day. He´d spent the morning with watching TV, hoping to find some hints for the remaining of Farfarello. He trusted Nagi to notice the invader in their net, and get himself a safe place until he or Schuldig would come to pick him up, but Farfarello... Farfarello was a total different story. 

Crawford could just hope that he would manage to find him before the psychotic albino could get himself into too much trouble then even he could handle. That was the reason why he´d searched every channel for some news about any bloody murder, but for some strange reasons the berserk seemed to have stayed clam. _´And that for four days now.´_

The thoughts about Farfarello´s missing activity and apparent reasons for that made Crawford even more uneasy. He could just hope that Schuldig would come soon and that the other two were following the plans for emergency. Finding themselves some safe shelter and wait for the others (him or Schuldig) the come and pick them up, while staying calm.

With Nagi that wasn´t such a great problem. Hardly a problem at all. Farfarello on the other side... Such and similar thoughts were circling in Crawfords head as he followed the excitedly babbling Ken Hidaka to the ground.

That he was wearing a pair of up-worn, too big jeans and a simple short-sleeved shirt wasn´t increasing his anticipation. Also the fact that he hadn´t his glasses.

Examining the lawn he noticed that it was still a little bit wet_. `Must´ve been watered today.`_

Promising himself to be careful with that (wet grass was slippery), he found himself wishing for his glasses again. But Crawford had lost his ones before he´d met Weiß and if he now started to wear some the similarity would´ve been to much not to rise suspicions.

Fujimiya was already keeping an eye on him and Kudou also seemed to be a little bit too curious for Crawford´s taste. The pounding of feet next to him ripped him out of his train of thoughts. 

Crawford looked up to meet slightly concerned brown eyes. Hidaka had returned from where he had been greeting some kids and was now looking questionably at him. Obviously he´d asked him something. "Huh?" Ken grinned slightly. "I was asking if you were ready to play?"

" Oh. Yes, of course." Silently he padded after Ken to a group of children on the lawn.

Involuntary the desire to just say `No.` and leave had risen in Crawford at that question. But Siberian was certainly not to let him of the hook that easily. _`Better I´m playing along and spare myself the trouble.`_ While Crawford was internally cursing again whatever twisted wrench of fate had brought him into this situation, Ken was busily introducing him to the other kids, telling him their names. "-…and this is Brad. I already told you about him." A chorus of voices greeted him.

"So, And now let´s play soccer!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter5 – hand luggage?!

AR: Well, that was it. Having any interesting ideas? Funny ones? Pairing wishes?

Just drop a note. Even if it´s just ´xxxx was here`or ´I read this story`.

I´m gratefully for nearly everything. ´`.´` Comments and contributional 

Criticism are more than welcome, flames will be fed to my cat. 


	6. 6 doggy in the shop

Disclaimer: still, still the same…..Weiß don´t belong to me, neither does Schwarz (sadly), ….no profit made,…just for fun,…so don´t sue…Please review!

Author ramblings: Oooh, reviews, reviews, reviews!! I´m eternally grateful for everyone who´s reviewing! And that not ´cause I got addicted to that stuff, no sir! ´`_´` It´s ´cause it means that somebody´s actually reading this. So great, great thanks to everyone who´s and has been reviewing. (Somewhere I heard that before, but where? ´`.´`*)

Anou,… big special thanks for giving me ideas to Blackwind and Blume-chan. (God! Blume-chan don´t tell me such things! Now I don´t get these pictures out of my head anymore! I´ll have to put it somewhere in the story. ...´`.´` I´m gonna blame the whole dog-thingie to you, just that ya know´`_´` . . . . . wanna job as a muse?´`_´`*) So, hope you all have fun reading!

What he certainly hadn´t planned

Chapter 6

"So, And now let´s play soccer!"

It was about one and half an hour later that it was a proved fact: Brad Crawford and soccer don´t mix very well. Actually they don´t mix at all.

Ken has chased them all on a staying power training at first, making them run several round around the whole field. At first Crawford didn´t mind this part. It would have been serving him to replace his endurance training while staying with Weiß or so he thought.

Unfortunately it also seemed that he and Ken were the only ones who noticed that the lawn was wet. While Crawford was using his talent to prevent himself from slipping Ken hadn´t really noticed it. As former pro he was used on different playing circumstances. 

So, coming like it had to be, already the first kid landed on his backside. And of course it started wailing immediately. Ken and some other kids had rushed to comfort it. It took them just ten minutes for this task After that little incident they resumed training. And then the next kid slipped.

Tough Crawford used his talent to cheat himself through the game without making too big mistakes it didn´t help him to increase his patience. Crawford had lost his patience somewhere after the first few minutes and the time the third child landed on it´s back front. Weren´t those kid´s supposed to know how to play soccer?!

So they had spent the most of the time with chasing after the ball, apparently not really minding which goal they were shooting at. Crawford had started in the meantime to count the minutes he´d still have to stay, down.

Finally Siberian announced that they would do another last exercise and then end their practise. Crawford had the feeling as if a great burden was finally lifted from his shoulders. Until he heard what they were to do.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

They were about to close the shop when Aya heard the faint motor sound of a bike. Yohji looked up from where he was serving the last group of customers "Look´s like Kenken got his bike back." -Ken had had to take it to repair a couple of days ago.

Aya didn´t even bother to look up from where he was sweeping the floor. "Aa."

The lanky blonde just grinned at this typical Aya-ish answer and waved his good-bye´s at the leaving girls, drawing giggles and hushed whisper from them. Aya glanced at him giving him a dark glare. He didn´t like it that Yohji was flirting with their customers. It was worse enough that the blonde was not quite what you´d call a workaholic, but his flirting was drawing even more of those giggling school girls into their shop. Annoying school girls which weren´t paying anything, but always managed to stand so in their way that they had some cheap excuse for touching them. When there was something that Aya couldn´t stand than being groped by strangers. 

Normally he was just putting up with them. But today had been a lot more worse than usual. The fact that just he and Yohji were in the shop didn´t help much. Omi had been occupied with working for school and trying to hack into the coded data they had achieved the night before and Ken was with Brad at soccer training. 

From the outside he could hear the sound of somebody running in their direction. 

Finally looking up he had just time to see a dark shadow flashing by through the window before Brad jolted trough the still open door. The door frame of the Koneko sumu ie was a little bit higher than the pavement and Brad wasn´t minding where he was going as long as it was fast.So it came like it had to come. 

Brad´s foot got hooked on it, turning his mad dash into a low-level flight. Promptly the dark-haired teen crashed into Aya, sending them both onto the floor.

Aya blushed as he found himself half-sitting, half-lying on the floor with a lap full of a slightly dazed Brad. Who was having one of his hands accidentally on some rather very private parts of Aya.

"Whoo-hoo!" Yohji cheered from his place on the cash register. "Now I know how to thaw an icicle! Good job Brad!" It obviously hadn´t taken him long to recover from Brad´s stormy entrance.

Brad didn´t notice Yohji´s teasing nor the fact that he had one hand on a rather disturbing spot. He gave Aya a frantic look, scrambled up, threw a look over his shoulder and hurried past Yohji upstairs. 

At least that was what he was trying to do. Yohji stretched an arm out and caught him on his way off. Brad´s force nearly jerked him from his feet. Behind them Aya got up.

"Not so fast, kid!! You´re gonna hurt yourself like that! Why are you running as if the devil himself´s after you?"

*****

Crawford followed a happily smiling Hidaka Ken, holding his aching head. Just why had this vision to hit him just that moment?! 

The outcome of it had been a huge headache coming from both- the large bump on his head where the ball had left a rather painful impression and a vision from what he hadn´t actually seen anything. Soccer and clairvoyance definitely weren´t compatible. 

Then his mind registered something else. They weren´t going the way they had come. Ken choose this moment to turn to him, still grinning like crazy.

"Say Brad, have you ever been riding on a bike?" 

*****

Aya noticed that Brad was shivering now. "Where´s Ken?"

"Do you have something against headache?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure. In the kitchen, I think. But wh- Hey!"

Brad had jerked his arm loose and vanished with lightning speed in the appointed direction. 

Shortly later Ken entered the shop. Yohji immediately turned to him. Ken didn´t notice. Instead he asked "Aya, Yohji, has one of one seen Brad? I just turned around and he was gone."

Yohji eyed him inquiring. "Kenken what the hell were you doing to the poor boy? He just now flew in, ran Aya down and vanished direction kitchen." Ken looked even more confused than before. "Oh, really?"

Neither of them noticed the way Aya was starring after the exited boy.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"- that were the news of the day and now-"

Crawford switched the TV with a disgusted growl of standby and threw himself onto the bed. Although he had immediately taken a triple dose of painkillers as soon as they had returned, his headache had just grown more worse. He´d barely been able to concentrate on the news in the television and that not just because he had to sit direct in front of it too see the displayed pictures.

Right now he had the feeling that his head was splitting in two. Crawford had to put up his whole share of will-power not to start trashing around and scream in pain. He´d rather die before he´d risk to show somebody this act of weakness. That just wasn´t in his nature. 

While he was convulsing with pain Crawford wondered what the heck was about with him. True he had used his talent pretty much in the last few days, but long not enough to touch his limits. Far not enough to justify this hell of a headache.

He doubted that even Schuldig had ever had so much pain inflicted by his very own gift. By now Crawford had started to whimper slightly, biting his lips not to do more. In some part of his mind he registered the metallic taste of blood on his tongue. He must have bitten his lip.

__

`Just what the hell have they done to me?!` The pain resembled nothing Crawford had ever experienced. The headache was enough to make a normal person going insane. And out of some strange reason Crawford knew that it had something to do with whoever was after Schwarz.

A new wave of pain washed over his head making him gasp. And then, then it ended, slowly ebbing away into a void of simple, empty weariness. Crawford finally gave in and fell asleep. 

__

`What happened to me?!`

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Aya was on his way to his room when he noticed the faint sound coming out the direction of Brad´s room. The readhead hesitated for a short moment and went then to the boy´s door. The sound was coming from inside. Aya rose his eyebrows in curiosity. 

Brad hadn´t come out of his room since he and Ken returned. Now it was late at night and there was still no sign of him. Wasn´t he hungry at all? The door was open.

Aya let himself in, carefully avoiding to make any noise. He was greeted by a eerily illuminated sigh of a sleeping Brad, the still running television being the only source of light. Aya switched the light on and turned the TV swiftly really off. _`Must have fallen asleep.`_

From what Ken had told them the soccer training hadn´t been that bad. More likely rather fun. So why had the boy been so ragged up? Aya couldn´t imagine any good reasons. 

Stepping closer to the bed he noticed how oddly similar this whole situation was with the one he was in by his visits in the hospital Aya-chan had been laying in. Again he was standing in a empty room, the still occupant of the bed being the only one else. Again only he was awake. But this visits existed only in the past now.

Following a involuntary urge Aya reached out and softly brushed one stray strand of hair out of the black-haired youths face. _`So much like Aya…`_ Brad stirred lightly on the touch. Then he swatted Aya´s hand away and turned around, murmured something incoherent what sounded like the American version of ´lemme sleep´.

Looking at the still sleeping boy in front of him, surrounded by the twisted blanket, his face now half-hidden under one of his arms, Aya allowed a small smile to creep over his face. After all nobody was there to see him. _´Look´s like I was wrong. You´re not like her at all.`_ He carefully wrapped Brad in the free parts of the sheet and left the room.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The first thing Crawford noticed in the morning was that he wasn´t alone in the bed. Again. A warm body was snuggled next to him. Slowly he was starting to suspect that Weiß were doing that on purpose. Determined not to let whoever it was this time disturb his sleep, Crawford simply kicked him as strong as he could. 

A low growl was the only response. _´Aya…?`_ Crawford couln´t come up with anybody else out of Weiß growling like that. _´Are they taking turns, or what?! Well, not with me!´_

He kicked again, this time stronger. Again a growl. _`Alright, that was it. You asked for it!` _And with that Crawford turned, ready to tell Fujimiya or whoever that was beside him what he was thinking about this situation. 

"Listen, you -!"

And froze. Crawford found himself face to face, or should I say face to muzzle?, with a big, black dog.

Amber-brown eyes were looking into brown canine ones as a snout opened to display a set of surprisingly white fangs. Crawford sweatdropped.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

They were all sitting in the kitchen and eating breakfast as Brad entered the kitchen. 

Omi had wanted to go and wake him up when the food was ready, but Aya had stopped him. This had surprised everyone else enough to leave the subject be. So it was coming that they were in the middle of eating when the black haired teen with the strangely remarkable resemblance to the Schwarz leader finally showed up.

Surprisingly he was only wearing some shorts and a shirt, the same like the day before. Brad stopped in the middle of the door, allowed his look to wander over all assembled people, examining their faces in a way that made Omi feel like he was searching for something and jerked then his thump in a swift movement behind him. 

Somehow he wasn´t looking pleasant at all. Omi battled the urge to gulp as Brad finally spoke.

"What. Is. This?"

The teen stepped further into the room. Now they were able to see that Brad wasn´t the only one who had entered the kitchen. Following on his heels were a big pitch-black dog who looked like a crossing between a wolf, a German shepherd dog (Alsatian) and a Collie. 

Everyone except for Brad looked at the dog whose tongue was lolling out of it´s muzzle by now. 

Then four pairs of eyes turned to look on Yohji.

Yohji sweatdropped, holding his hand up in a defensive gesture. "Hey, guy´s…You don´t think that I?" The stare deepened. "……"

Finally it was Omi who spoke first. "Yohji-kun, do you know what this dog is making here?" 

"Eh? This dog?" The dog had trotted to Yohji now, rubbing it´s head against his arm. Aya nodded. Yohji sweatdropped even more. "…I take it that you won´t believe me if I say that I haven´t seen it ever before?" 

A black and a red eyebrow rose in unison. Omi and Ken shook their heads. Yohji grinned nervously.

"Alright, alright! Her owner had to travel due to her work for a few days…"

"And you said that you´d take of him while she wasn´t there? But Yohji-kun…"

"Since when is it there anyway?"

"I found him sleeping on my bed when I woke up. Somebody must´ve let the door open." Brad helped out. Aya looked everywhere but in his direction.

Ken grinned as he heard that. "Really? Yohji, what did you do? Smuggle him in after everyone else was asleep?" 

Yohji nodded." I didn´t want to upset the rest of you. And I couln´t say no since I´ve stayed the last nights at her home." _´And I didn´t want Aya to kill me for this one.´_ Tough he was clever enough not to say _that_ aloud. 

He gave them his best pleading look. "You aren´t mad at me, are you?" 

Omi smiled warmly. "No, not at all. But you should´ve warned us." Ken nodded approvingly. "Omi´s right. You should have told us." The tall blond grinned sheepishly. Brad sighed and shook his head slowly in defeat. Aya just continued glaring at the notorious playboy.

Yohji presented them with a bright smile. "Alright then. Brad, since you have enough time to why don´t you take care of her? It´s a female and her name´s Teddy." 

Aya rose his eyebrow again. "Teddy?" Yohji shrugged. "Don´t look at me. I didn´t name her." Brad was meanwhile desperately searching for an acceptable reason not to do it. 

"Don´t even try it. It´s useless. Teddy likes you!" Ken laughed. It was true. The dog had been wandering from Yohji to Brad and back, trying to get some caressings. It was obvious that the dog wasn´t willing to leave them any soon.

Brad sighed. Maybe he would be able to get something out of this story. "Okay. I´ll do it."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Nagi sighed. It was now nearly a week since he had gotten separated from the other members of Schwarz. According to the in case planning's he´d searched himself a safe place to stay and was now waiting for the others to pick him up. 

The brown-haired teen had been hacking trough the net for a while, easily unmasking the fake mail from Crawford and keeping himself far away from the appointed place. He just hoped that the others also noticed the fake.

Nagi had spent most of his time with looking for any signs of the others and spying on their invasive pursuer. With parted results. He had easily located Schuldig. The German had actually followed the fake order and had went to Germany. But to their foes dismay he had noticed the whole thing in time and was now playing cat and mouse with their enemies.

Farfarello was also easily found. He was somewhere in the city, changing his location too often to keep track. Although Nagi hadn´t found any more conspicuous signs of him, he was sure that the Irishman was safe and alive. Safe and alive…

That was the problem. As much as Nagi had searched, he hadn´t been able to find any signs of Crawford. The American han´t shown up since their last action concerning Estet, neither alive nor dead.

Nagi wasn´t sure if that was a good sign. If Schwarz had really lost their cold calculating leader they would have real problems. Crawford had been the one who had always kept everything going. He´d also made sure that none of their minor messes up were triggering something less pleasant than a minimal beating. Never much more than some black bruises, more symbolic warnings than punishments.

Nagi frowned at the computer screen in front of him. If they´d lost the stiff asshole, Schwarz would never be the same. That was for certain. The prodigy sighed. Worrying back and forth about what all could have gone wrong or have happened wasn´t bringing him anywhere.

But it wasn´t exactly as if he´d have something better to do. `_God I´m bored!`_ Nagi sighed again and looked at the different sound files, there were more than hundred, on the screen in front of him. _`Well, why not share my suffering.´_

For a professional like him it hadn´t been too heavy to get the invaders phone number. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

pee-pee-pee-click

"Hello? Tannin speaking."

"….."

"Who´s there?"

"Eeee.Ttttt." //AN: Have you ever seen the movie E.T. from Spielberg? Imagine that voice.//

"Huh?!"

"E.T., Phone home."

"…click"

"Who was it?"

"E.T."

"What?… What did he want?"

"Phone home. Stop it! That´s NOT funny!!"

"But it is. Was it the real one? You know, small, long neck, wrinkled skin, big eyes and a pocket light in his finger?"

"Where the heck should I know?! I can´t look through a phone if you haven´t noticed yet! Oooh, I´ll kill that brat!!"

"What brat?"

"That Schwarz brat. He´s found my number and is terrorizing me now!"

"With phone calls?"

"Have you ever been called at four twenty a.m. from Mrs. Doubtfire?! Yesterday it was Agent K. from the MIB. Telling me that I was about to become a new member of them. At two in the night!!"

"… Stop laughing!! THAT's NOT FREAKING FUNNY!!!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Nagi grinned to himself. It had been sheer luck that he had stumbled over this old Hollywood sound files. And he hadn´t even tried a tenth of them by now. 

His grin widened. Maybe waiting for the others wouldn´t be that boring after all.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Hey! Brad! Wait for me!" Crawford groaned. He´d taken this whole dog-sitting task just because he´d hoped to get out of Weiß fangs for some time. 

Taking Teddy out for a walk seemed the perfect excuse for vanishing a little and do some researching about his team. At least he´d thought so. But the Weiß members seemed to always miraculously meet him on his way as soon as Crawford was out of seeing range of the shop, or were having accidental just the exactly same way to go as he went. Sometimes they also just openly went with him. 

Crawford doubted that any of this was really _accidental_. At least he´d had enough time to get himself some contact lenses without them noticing. It´d been pretty strenuous for him to cover is lacking eyesight all the time.

He stopped and waited for the young blonde – Omi, to reach them. "Phew. You´re having quite a speed." Tsukiyono grinned while he was trying to catch his breath. He´d had to run to catch up to them. "Why didn´t you say-?" he stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed the cold look Crawford was regarding him with. "Let me guess. It just happens that you have the same way. Or has somebody here ordered some flowers?"

The last question had a mocking undertone in it. They were standing in front of an old western-style graveyard, surrounded by thick walls. "You guys should be able to really do better in shadowing me than that." Omi squirmed a little. "No it´s not like that. We´re not shadowing you." 

Crawford quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure. It´s just accidentally that I´ve never left the apartment alone since I woke up about a week before." He sighed. "You can tell that somebody else, Omi, not me." 

A pair of slightly guilty bright blue eyes turned to met cold amber-brown. "Sigh, alright. You´re right. We have followed you." Crawford snorted. Followed was a understatement. But Tsukiyono seemed to tell the truth. A hint of honest concern was in that genki voice as he continued "But we were concerned that you might get lost if you´re wandering around alone."

Omi looked at the slightly baffled Crawford with a pleading look. "You angry?" Crawford was more surprised than he was wiling to admit. He hadn´t thought about this possibility. _´They were concerned about me?´_ He shook his head, sending his bangs flying. "No, it´s alright. You could have told me right out, though." Omi gave him a sheepish grin. "So, mind if I tag along?"

Crawford shrugged. "You´re already there, aren´t you." _´And I don´t think that it´d hurt.´ _Actually Crawford was pretty sure that the sandy-blonde _would_ leave him alone if he asked him to. But right now he wasn´t minding the company. 

They followed the graveyard wall in silence for a time, everybody following his own thoughts. Just as they passed the open gates Teddy suddenly stiffed. Then the dog let out a low throaty growl. Crawford noticed the bad sign but was inches too slow to prevent the dangling disaster. 

With a bark the dog started to sprint right between the rows of gravestones, yanking the leash out of his hands. The boys cursed and dashed after the vanishing dog. "K´so! What was that?!" "A squirrel." Crawford replied. He´d been able to catch a glimpse of the distinct furry tail of one before. 

They followed the big dog deep down into the graveyard, wenting between rows and rows of the differentest gravestones. Omi was obviously not liking this place. His look often searched over the graves and his movements had gotten nervous. Actually the thought of all the bodies rotting in coffins surrounding them was giving Omi the creeps. He wasn´t liking those western style graveyards at all.

Finally, after fifteen minutes of calling and searching Teddy decided to give up her resultless hunt and returned to the both teens. Crawford quickly picked her leash up again and moved to go. He´d already went some meters when he noticed that Tsukiyono wasn´t following.

"Omi…?" He turned around and found the blonde staring at a tall family grave. As all family graves it was about twice as big as the normal ones and seemed to be just recently made. Curious about what was fascinating the other that much Crawford stepped up to the grave until he was standing directly next to Omi.

The grave seemed to be normal. Allowing his eyes to wander Crawford looked at the large gravestone. It was entirely made out of black marble, simple, with only a white cross edged into it. Under the cross was just one word chiseled into it. Also in withe letters it read "SCHWARZ".

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter 6 – doggy in the shop

Picaro: This is the end of the sixth chapter. Hope you liked it! ´`.´`

rrpshh Having ideas how to continue this? Funny ones? rrpshh 

Any coments? rrppsh-ratsh Just drop a note! ´`_´`

I´m r-r-rash Hey, what the hell is this sound?! /starts looking around and sees her cat sitting in a pile of former organised papers. The papers are now in _quite a disorder_ with many little holes in them./ Aaaah! Shredder! I wanted to _read_ them! /a little cat with black spot on his nose and a piece of paper in his mouth is looking is innocent as a cat could be/ E-heh, the next chapter is coming soon. Please stay tuned! rrrasshp /Cat continues it´s playing/

Waaahh!! Help! ´`_´`**


	7. 7 one step into your own grave

Disclaimer: Hey, guess what! I don´t own anything from Project Weiß Kreuz! The guys with the lawyers do. I DO own the idea of this story though, and maybe some grammar mistakes´`.´`*

Author ramblings: This chapter had taken a little bit longer than planned (and I said that the next was coming soon ´`_´`*) Gomen nasai, minna!! Sorry for that. Bow's deeply. Wasn't on purpose. Also school has started for me again, so it's inevitable that I´ll get slowed down a bit. Also sorry ´bout that, but I can't change it. Ah, well, please be patient with me, I'm trying my best! Hope you have fun!´`´`

Please review! big-sad-puppy-dog-eyes

What he certainly hadn´t planned

Chapter 7

Omi stared shock-frozen at the grave in front of him. He didn't exactly know much about german language, but that little bit was enough to recognize the familiar name. SCHWARZ. 

It had been pure dumb luck that Omi had noticed the grave. The rather decent way it was built and the simple black block of marble which served as gravestone had attracted his attention, seeming eerily out of place between all the other rich decorated graves. Out of curiosity he'd read the grave inscription. 

SCHWARZ.

Like the rest of Weiß Omi had been wondering about what had become out of their archenemies team, but he'd never assumed that they might have died back then. Not while they were able to make it out. The whole thought that they with their strange, mighty powers wouldn't be able to escape while Weiß had made it out without any problems seemed ridiculous to him. 

He'd never imagined that that could have been the last time that they had seen the black team. Schwarz. The dark, the black ones. Always there to resist Weiß on important missions, eternally opposing them. It sounded crazy but somehow Omi had taken it for granted that Schwarz would be always there, battling them as long as they would life. To think now that they were drowned, while Weiß were celebrating their victory…. It just seemed so horrible wrong to the young blonde. But there it was, their grave, fully with flowers, gravestone, etc….

"Omi…?" Faintly Omi registered Brad stepping up beside him. Still he wasn't able to tear his look from the huge black, white-veined pillar. ´_That's simply impossible…`_ He didn´t even hear the faint gasp from the boy next to him. He allowed his eyes to trail slowly over the gravestone, imprinting every inch of it. Probably it was just a evidence. Someone with the same family name. 

__

´There has to be more than just the name.´ As much as Omi knew there was always at last the person's full name and the birth – and dying date written on this stones. It also had to be somewhere there.

Sure enough it was there. On the lowest edge of the stone, half-hidden beneath a vase with flowers. B.C., S., F., N.N. it read, followed by the date when they had taken the heads of Estet out. Omi´s head was spinning by now. _´I just can't believe that.´_

Were they really drunk or crushed back then? Did they die? Without him and the rest of Weiß even noticing? Somehow it seemed just not fair. They had been strong enemies, stronger than anything else Weiß had ever met. To think that they had died like that, without fight, without anything….. Omi just lacked any fitting words to describe the feeling he got at that thought.

To think that he'd never fight prodigy with his telekinesis again, never would have to put up with masterminds schemes, never avoid one of berserks maniacal attacks, never be faced with the cold, smug oracle and his inscrutable plans anymore…..It just simply wasn't looking right.

Omi shuddered at the thought that he was maybe standing just a few steps before and about fix feet over their corpses. Somehow the whole situation was freaking him out. That just had to be one of their tricks again. There were no other possibility. There were none!

"I-I-Ihavetogoandchecksomething! Pleasewaithere, Iwon´ttakelong!" he managed to stammer out before he dashed away. There had to be cemetery-attendant somewhere by the gates, or at least some address to turn to! Omi was conscious that his acting must have to look very strange to Brad, but right now he didn´t care. He had to make sure that the grave wasn't a fake.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford barely noticed how Omi left. 

Like the blonde he was staring at the mysterious grave. He'd also noticed the smaller inscription and also the flowers. And that was what disturbed him. 

He knew that Schuldig was alive, himself of course also. That left Nagi and Farfarello. Somehow Crawford doubted that one of them would built a grave for them, yet alone one leave flowers on it. The were standing in a vase, placed directly in front of the huge gravestone. From what Crawford could make out they seemed to be European flowers. The flaming red-orange petals of fire-lilies were flashing out between the some strange, pastel coloured flowers.

Those flowers had strange heard-shaped blossoms which were growing in rows from long, thin risps. The heart-shaped parts of the flowers were either pure white or in different shades of pink, ranging from dark violet to bright girlish pink. From the underst top of the heart were white teardrop-formed petals emerging. Those ´tears´ were always pure white. 

Crawford recognized both flowers. He had been told their names once, though just in german. The lilies with the colour of Schu´s hair were called Donnerrosen (Thunder roses) and the Heart-shaped ones Tränende Herzen (Weeping hearts). He'd forgotten from who had told him, but he couldn't care less. Important was, that the flowers were there.

None of them would put flowers on each others grave. That was against their very natures.

Crawford broke into a grim smile. Whoever had put up this fake, he wasn't very good informed about their traits. _´Small mistake my dear.´_ Small, but very fatal. If Omi hadn´d been so surprised even the Weiß assassin would've noticed the obvious error.

Slightly he wondered if the sandy-blonde would be able to get some information's about this. Crawford waited a little and decided then to inspect the grave a little more closely. 

Maybe he could get some hint about the person who'd built it. The only way to do get to the stone was to step onto the fake grave. Crawford doubted that there was anybody actually buried in it. Carefully he stepped into the framed ground.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Omi was on his way back to the grave when he suddenly heard a shocked outcry. 

It was coming from where he had left Brad and the grave and got followed by a series of exited barks. He cursed under his breath and sprinted in the direction the sound was coming from.

When Omi reached the grave a shocking view was greeting him. Brad was half-lying, half-sitting on the ground of the grave tugging ferociously at his foot, while the dog was circling the grave, barking like crazy. But was really caught Omi´s sight was the fact that Brad´s foot was sticking ´till his under leg in the grave. 

The dark-haired teen was tugging like a maniac on his caught leg. The more effort he was putting in, the more his foot seemed to be sucked deeper down. Brad stopped his attempt to free himself long enough to look at Omi and shouted "Omi! Help me, goddammit!!" 

Omi blinked, still too surprised/ shocked to react. Seeing a grave trying to eat your friend wasn't something what you get to see every day.

"Omi!! Something moist´s tuggin´ my foot down!!!"

That was it. Immediately Omi was there and grabbed Brad under his arms. Together they had to tug with all their strength to get Brad free again. 

After a good final tug Brad´s feet got out of whatever was holding it there with a sucking sound. The sudden release send both down on the ground. While Omi was still staring wide-eyed at the new hole, Brad inspected sullenly his leg. He was mud covered from his knee down and one shoe was missing now. Most likely it was still sticking in the ground. 

With a howl Teddy (that´s the dog folks) was by him and trying to lick his face. In it's relief the dog's tail was wagging like a out crazed fan. The next few minutes Brad was busy with defending himself against a wet affection-attack. Omi was meanwhile peeking down the strange hole, his curiosity getting the better with him. From the other side he could see some liquid reflecting the sunlight. And when he concentrated hard he could even hear the faint sound of rippling water. Together with the mud on Brad's leg this was starting to make sense.

"Have you found anything?" Brad asked while he was shoving the dogs muzzle with both hands away from his face. Omi grinned. The big dog had half-buried the lithe teen and was now keeping him in a sitting position while forcefully trying to wash his face. "The rain must have washed the earth from under the ground. What was holding you back was mud." seeing the others difficulties Omi added. "I take it that you don't like being kissed?" 

Brad snorted from where he was half-buried under the dog. "No. I don't. Especially not when coming from a dog." Omi laughed at that. "She's just happy that you're not hurt." 

Brad shoved he dog forcefully away. "Yeah. And that she can do it herself." Omi had to hold back a giggle. He knew the situation the other teen was in just too good. After all Omi worked together with three other bishonen in a shop which was constantly crowded by hordes of fan girls. But a dog was certainly something new. A gasping sound snatched Omi out of his musings.

Brad was laughing. Very hard.

Teddy had decided to play mean and contented herself with licking the mud off of Brad's leg. And had promptly started with his sole. Obviously Brad was very ticklish there. Instead of answering Brad's gasped calls for help Omi joined in laughing. 

After what seemed to be an eternity filled with laughter's and giggles they finally calmed down. Omi had collapsed on the ground not having enough breath to laugh any more, where Brad was still sitting, having resumed laughing even after he had gotten the dog to finally stop it's tickling-assault. Though there was an under-edge of hysteria in his voice. 

"Hey Brad..?"

"Hm?" Brad threw Omi a questioning look, while Omi was helping him back on his feet's. 

Omi fidgeted a little. _´Why I´m having such problems asking him such a simple question? Maybe because it´s sounding so utterly stupid…?´ _"..can I ask you something?" Brad had started in the meantime to inspect the hole he´d made by himself. He didn't even bother to look at the sandy-blonde while he answered. "You can ask whatever you want. Just don't ask for my real name or I'd have to turn you down."

"I know. It's nothing about that." 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Well?"

They were now already on their way back to the Koneko and Omi still hadn't asked. To be honest the youngest member of Weiß had no clue how to formulate his question without it sounding absolute foolish. _´Guess I'll just have to get over with it…´_

"Umm, back then, when you were sticking in the grave…" "Hm?" "That was the first time that you called me Omi. Instead of Tsukiyono or just you, I mean, and…" "And?" Crawford watched Omi out of the corners of his eyes. He was growing slightly curious about what the other teen was trying to get to. "And, ahem, I was wondering…, does that mean that we are friends now?" 

That got Brad on the wrong foot. Omi watched the dark-haired teen stop in mid-step, looking at him with slightly widened amber-brown eyes. For a moment Omi had the feeling that Brad was searching for something special in his eyes, some strange mixture of emotions swinging in his own eyes. They changed to fast for Omi to read them, but he was very sure that there was some sort of doubtful suspicion in them. It was nearly as if Brad was waiting for him to start laughing at him, or maybe fearing that it all was just some sort o cruel joke. _´As if he's readying himself to be hurt.´_

Omi returned his look insecurely but without wavering. He didn't know if he was risking to loose their friendship before it had even begun, but it was the only thing which came into his mind. They stood both in silence, neither one moving or even blinking for what seemed an eternity.

Finally, when Omi started to think that he had done the wrong thing, Brad broke their eye contact. He sighted slowly and when he looked at Omi again every hint of strain on had disappeared from his face. His eyes were still unreadable, but a small knowing smile tugged on the corner of his lips. "Well…I guess it does." For a millisecond the smile reached his eyes.

Omi smiled his brightest smile on his new friend. "That's great! I´m very happy to have you as a friend Brad-kun." They resumed walking again. Brad winked at him. "Scratch the –kun. Brad's just fine." "Alright" Omi nodded happily. It was good that the situation had relaxed again. 

After some time Omi giggled again. Brad threw him a questioning look which Omi made grin even more. "I just thought how similar you and Aya-kun are." A fine brow rose up. "You're both the calm, silent type though you are a little bit more expressive than him." Omi continued. "And you are also liking to have some time for yourself. AND you are both not that cold and unfeeling like you are wanting others to believe you are." Brad looked at Omi. "I still can't see the joke abut it." Omi grinned again. "Now I know how to get you guys to relax." 

An amused sparkle started to burn in Brad's eyes. "You mean, lure him to the graveyard and feed him to his own grave?" Omi laughed brightly. "Yeah something like that. …Why his own grave?" 

The dark-haired teen shrugged. "Ow, just so. I think this one was empty." He chuckled lowly. "Maybe it felt lonely and wanted an occupant?" The sandy-blonde grinned at that. Brad sighed and shook his head slowly. "This all's just making me go crazy. Over a week and still no trace from the person who's responsible for that all. And do you know what the first thing I thought was, when I broke in?" He snorted. "I don't want to end as Zombie food!"

He laughed again although this time an edge of hysteria swung in his voice. This time Omi noticed. He touched the younger teen reassuring on his shoulder. "It's alright. Nobody expects you to stay clam the whole time with all those things happening around you." Brad nodded slowly. 

"Yeah. Nobody. Except me." he whispered faintly. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

On the evening of the same day. Omi had called an gathering due to the fact that he had found some interesting news. He'd even managed to get Manx there which was proving how serious this was to him.

Everyone was now assemble in the mission room, each one in his/her trusted place. It was pretty much like every other meeting when they got their missions, just that this time the whole attention rested on Omi.

Ken sat on his usual place wondering about just what was important enough to make Omi do this. Hell, if even Manx was there it had to be something quite serious! It was Manx who spoke first. "You said that there were important news Bombay?" "Hai."

"Then spill it already." came from the couch where Yohji had rested himself lankily. "I´m curious like hell about what it takes to make Manx-san come here without mission. Maybe I could arrange it more often." Like usual Manx ignored the blondes try to hit on her. Though she had to admit that she was just as curious as the rest of them. Even Aya looked intrigued.

Omi fidgeted a little about the attention he got. "Well, it's about Schwarz." A soft murmur started at this statement. "Schwarz? You´re sure?" Surprisingly it was Aya who had asked. The tall redhead had left his place by the wall in favour of better hearing. 

Ken nodded excitedly. It was the first time since that event with Estet that they heard about the other team again. That Schwarz showed up meant inevitable problems for Weiß. Everyone of them knew that. It was just as sure as the fact that the sun was shining by day. "Have you seen one of them?"

Omi shrugged. "That's the point. I´m not sure about that." Manx rose a perfectly trimmed eyebrow. Hastily Omi continued "I don't know if it were really they, but I think I found their grave today." 

Shocked silence followed his statement. "Their…..grave? You sure Omittchi?"

Omi shrugged in a helpless gesture. "No, not really. I stumbled across it on those western-style graveyard, you know it, but I couldn't find out if it was real or a fake." "You mean if there was actually buried someone and if, if they are really who they are claimed to be." Omi nodded again. "You mean we have to go and see ourselves?" Ken shuddered involuntary at the though of digging the corpses of their worsest enemies out. He shared Omi´s concept of western-style cemeteries.

"If it's necessary." Aya´s response was as cold as usual, not giving any hints about the feelings behind his mask of ice. 

Aya wasn't very happy about the possibility that their rival team was probably out there and scheming again. He'd just be able to rest when he knew for sure that they meant no treat to his sister or anyone else anymore. Like the other members of Weiß Aya hadn't believed for a second that Schwarz could have died back then. One couldn't get that easily rid of devils like them.

Omi cleaned his throat. "I tried to get some information about the customer form the burial-service that made the grave, but I couldn't get anything." 

Yohji crooked an eyebrow. "What, you were stopped by some company's security systems? Bishonen, I tend to believe you a lot, but not that." Omi winced slightly. He'd hoped to evade this topic. 

Giving the others a embarrassed look Omi grinned sheepishly. "Anou, ahem, I´m having a little problem with the tequila lately." "You drink?" Yohji shook his head in disbelief. "Tequila? Chibi I can't believe that you were stupid enough to drink while hacking." 

"-Hey! I don't! ´Tequila's the name of a computer virus. It uploaded itself suddenly when I was to check the data you've conquered on the last mission." "I take that that was the reason for the missing mission report and researching results?" Manx interfered. She'd stayed silent till now but a virus which could stop Bombay from his researches were definitely something which had to be paid attention to.

Omi shrugged nonchalantly. "It's not really something special. But it had erased all of my starting software. I have to get a new one to do something against it. It's time-robbing, but not enough to be actually a problem." Manx nodded at that. Satisfied to know that the wanted data would be provided she relaxed again. The matter with Schwarz seemed to like a internal problem to Weiß. As long as the other team wouldn't get active again Manx wasn't concerned.

"If you give me the address of the company I'll check it myself." Omi beamed at her. "Okay. Arigatou Manx-san." Quickly he described the grave and the company's securities. 

Ken frowned slightly. "What were you actually making on the graveyard?" Omi winced. He'd hoped to get this over without mentioning Brad. They had told Manx a slightly changed version of how they came to their current guest, in which they'd found him in a room in the targets building. Until now Manx had luckily not paid much attention to him. But if Kritiker´s secretary became aware of him…

It was never sure if the attention from Kritiker was something one could wish for.

"Omi?" Manx was all-business now. Omi winced slightly. "I and Brad were taking a walk when I stumbled about it." Omi answered while he looked at Ken reproachfully. 

"A walk? Over a cemetery?" she frowned. "That was my idea." Yohji quickly cut in. (He-he Yotan to the rescue ´`_´`) He shifted from his sprawled position into a sitting one, grinning at the redhead woman. "I figured that since Brad's coming from America, he might have been there before – visiting some deceased relatives, or something like that. He could have recognized something." Yohji shrugged. "It was worth a try."

Manx looked from the lanky playboy to Omi and back and nodded then. This explanation seemed good enough to her. "Alright. We will check on the owner of this grave." She turned to Omi, "I hope get some results to see soon. Inform me immediately when you found anything, as always." "Hai. I will." 

With that the four boys were left alone in the basement.

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"Phew! That was narrow."

Omi exhaled loudly as Manx had finally left. For a moment he'd thought that Manx had found out everything and that they all´d be in for it. Fortunately Yohji-kun had reacted in time.

Aforesaid blonde slumped back on his sprawled pose on the couch. "You can say that, chibi. You should really learn to use your head before you speak Kenken. You nearly got us all in really deep shit."

Ken gave the others an apologetic look. "Hey, I´m sorry ´bout that." He shrugged sheepishly. "But with all that sudden surprises my head's starting to spin."

Yohji nodded slightly at this objection, directing his attention back to Omi. "He's somehow right Omittchi. Together that's all a little much at once." He waved a hand. "Especially that thing about Schwarz."

Aya nodded. "Tell us more about this accident." "Yeah. I wanna know too!" Ken agreed. The brunette brimmed with curiosity. He, Yohji and Aya had been the whole time in the Koneko sumu Ie. Well, Aya hadn´t been scheduled to work but he'd stayed the most of the day in the shop so it didn't really count. 

Omi nodded and started talking again.

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"Wow. That sure was a experience." Ken commented after Omi had finished report. "You say it, Kenken. And he really broke in into that grave?" "Hai. About knee-deep." Yohji chuckled from where he were comfortably perched on the couch again. All four assassins had made them comfortable while listening to Omi´s story and were a lot less strained by now. Actually both, Yohji and Ken were wearing big grins on their faces and even Aya had had stifle a smile when Omi had described how he´d found Brad with his leg sticking in the earth and Teddy's attempts to help him. And the staying from Brad's missing shoe.

They'd soon found out that Brad, like Aya, wasn't a person of open display of feelings. Also calm and collected he hid most of his feelings under a neutral mask which seldom cracked enough to show the real person behind it. But unlike Aya the boy wasn't able to contain his emotions from surfacing when surprised or under stress.

Yohji sighed in played sympathy. "The poor! I wish I'd been there to help him." "Knowing you you'd just laughed at him." Ken laughed. The blonde faked a hurt expression. "Outch! Kenken your lack of trust hurts me! Do you really think I'd do something that mean?" Omi and Ken exchanged looks.

"Hai!" Then they both dissolved in laughter's as Yohji clasped his chest and let himself fall from the couch. Aya scowled at them. Didn't these three recognize the possible danger they were in? What if that grave would've been a trap? What if Schwarz was still out there, scheming again? It was as if a dreaded nightmare had came true. The black assassins were back from where they had vanished and Aya knew that that meant no good. 

People were in danger again. His sister was in danger again. They knew how he cared about her and he wouldn't be surprised if they would use this knowledge against him. Even more, it wasn't just Aya-chan who might be in danger. Other people too. For example Sakura-chan who had helped them, or one of Omi´s school friends, or even the kid's Ken were training. Heck, anybody who meant something to any of Weiß was a possible target due to mastermind and his mind-gaming abilities! If Schwarz were out for revenge…

Aya´s eyes widened in shock for a second. 

´_Shit!!´_

"Did somebody see you?" "Huh?" Omi blinked. "I asked if anybody has watched you." Aya replied. "No. I think not." Omi gave Aya a questional look. "Why?" 

The other two members of Weiß had sobered up at their silent leaders question. "You don't believe that they are dead, do you?" Yohji inquired from where he was sitting on the floor now. "No. I don´t." 

Thoughtfully Yohji traced his chin with a finger. "A trap to lure us out, hmm?" "Hn." The redhead stayed passive as always, not giving hint of his inner turmoil. If his suspicion was right… "That'd be a possibility. I can't think that they just scratched off, while we didn't even got really harmed." Omi agreed with his team mates opinions. That was really hard to imagine. Still.. "I really haven't see anything. I also didn't have the feeling that we were shadowed or something. And the dog would have reacted too."

Aya nodded slowly. Maybe his fears were unreasonable. "And if they used some sort of technology? From afar I mean?" Yohji´s expression lit up. "Kenken, for once there's a good idea coming from you. They could've used small cameras or something like that." "Hey-!" Ken scowled half-hearted at Yohji "What should ´for once´ mean?" Yotan shrugged innocently.

"That would be possible." Omi mused. "I didn't look about that. But who'd expect something like that on a graveyard? And wouldn't it be a little strange to make a trap-grave? It's not like anyone could've known that we were going to get there." "You forgot about their powers." The ex-private eye threw in. "At least one of them could've known." Ken cursed at that. Damn Schwarz and their powers!

"So they could have seen you?" Aya asked, breaking his silence again. Giving him a weary look, Omi shrugged again. "Under this circumstances, yeah." _´Fuck!´ _Aya´s scowl deepened. "Aya? What's wrong? You noticed something?" Ken asked doubtfully. They all knew the redhead too well to not to notice the subtle signs. Automatically they all tensed for what was to come.

"Aya?" 

Aya ripped himself out of his thoughts. "Then they know about Brad. He might be in danger." This time it wasn't only Ken who cursed.

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Later that night somebody knocked at Crawford's room's door. Crawford was really not in the mood for any company, but before he was even able to formulate something as nice as ´go away!´ the door knob already turned and a lanky blonde let himself in. 

Before Crawford could say anything Yohji already flopped down on the bed next to him. Crawford gave him an annoyed look. "Don't you ever wait for an answer before you invite yourself?" The day's events had riled him up more than he liked to admit. Actually Crawford had caught himself wishing desperately for any signs of whatsoever from the other three members of Schwarz. So he really wasn't in the mood for any games the blonde playboy of Weiß might be up to. 

__

´I should've locked the door.´ After the last incident Crawford had stopped locking his rooms door. It didn't stop any of them anyways. Like every assassin with a spark of talent all members of Weiß were able to brake locks easily.

"Actually I don't even waste time with knocking normally." Mischievous sparkling green eyes searched his face. "But since you were a guest I figured I could be a little m ore polite this time."

_´Oh god.´_ Crawford sighed mentally. He knew this expression in that jade eyes just too good. The lanky blonde was up to something and nothing would be able to stop him right now. Another similarity to Schuldig. 

"I´m honoured." Crawford's voice and expression were totally cold. He was absolutely not in the mood for this. Yohji presented him with a wide grin. "Yeah. And your totally right too." Crawford's scowl deepened. "Ey, Stop it!! You're scaring me with that!" Yohji laughed. 

Grinning widely at him he added. "When you're doing that you're nearly looking like A-yan. And that IS scary." He laughed again. Crawford humped. "Why are you here Kudou?" Yohji sighed and shook his head. "It's Yohji alright? Not Kudou. Yoh-ji." The smile crept back on his lips.

"You know, one could think you're not wanting my company." He faked a hurt sigh while his eyes were sparkling with amusement. "And that after I extra went the long way to give you this." He waved a wrapped up object with one hand. Crawford looked at it. He hadn't noticed it until now. "What is it?" 

Yohji grinned again. "I don't know. Today a woman came into the shop and asked me to give you this." He waved the roughly wrapped up packet. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Yohji´s behaving strange?"

"I tell you Omi. There was this beautiful woman in the shop, really nice curves and that all and surely over eighteen, and he didn't even try to hit on her?" 

"Really?!" Omi stared at Ken in disbelieve. "I swear it! And when I asked him later he just said that ´she had felt strange´. I really didn't get that. I mean, I was standing right next to her and I felt nothing!"

"That sure´s scary."

"Mmm-hmm."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford stared at the package in his hands. It was about as big as a larger book, twice as broad and wrapped up in what seemed to be backing paper. (that's raw, brown paper) But what was really disturbing was the fact that somebody had written To Bradley, Koneko sumu Ie on it.

"Come on. Unwrap it finally! I want to see what's in it!" Yohji whined next to him. Crawford held the slight suspicion that the tall blonde had just come due to his curiosity. Still, who was knowing that he was with Weiß? More important, who'd send him something there? Schuldig wasn't knowing where he was, Nagi wouldn't have done something that foolish and Farfarello…, the only thing Crawford had seen the white-hared psychopath doing with the post was – oh, just scratch that! So who was it?

Intentionally taking his time Crawford unwrapped the packet. It turned out to be a greyish-blue and gold patterned plastic box. 

"That's it?" Yohji asked disappointed. Then he noticed the writing on the side of the box. "Crowley-Tarot. Starter-set" he read out loud. "What a strange present." Balinese mused loudly, "From my experience the girls are normally giving other presents like candies or flowers and are doing such things by themselves." He waved a hand. "Ya know, like using such card to look if they're having a future with the guy they like and such."

Crawford had frozen when the blonde had read the title. Crawley – That sounded nearly like one of Schuldig´s deliberate messings up with his name. And Tarot cards – everyone knew that they were used to look into the future. Slowly he opened the box.

Yohji was still rambling on about the usual gifts coming from girls and women when he heard a faint gasp. "What's wrong?" Curious green eyes met slightly widened amber-browns. Without a word Brad pulled something out of the box and handed it to him.

"What is this?" The dark-haired youth just indicated to him to look at the sheet he'd given him, still wordless. Curious Yohji turned the paper over. It was a photo, apparently taken from some sort of video-camera for it's poor quality. 

And it was showing Brad, Omi and Teddy on the graveyard.

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Ende Kapitel 7 – one step into your own grave

AR, the second: Congratulations!! You reached the end of this chapter! How did you like it? if you have any ideas, comments, contributional criticism, suggestions how this could continue, review! Drop a note and if it's just ´I was there´. I´m nearly grateful for everything! Flames will be used as catfood. ´`_´`

Thank´s for reviewing to: Blume, JePaTh15, Koyuki Aode, Pyrochan, Kalina Quantum, Shi no Tenshi, Reiku-chan, pink bunny, Green Jello, Enna Namo, Black Wind, malifici, Inkino, Yami no Tenshi, Leigh Rose Merquise, Jenny, videlsa, Snickerdoodle, Akeru and Bright Shadow.

Well, that finally was it.´`´` Thanks for reading! rrrip Hm, what´s that? turns Waaah!! Shredder! Not AGAIN!!! dashes of wailing, trying to rescue her school/exercise books 

blink, blink Publicity: Coming: Will Weiß be able to guard Brad from Schwarz? Who sent the photo? Will Schwarz show up soon? Which pairings is it now?


	8. 8 do you know about Schwarz?

Disclaimer: slowly I´m running out of ways to say that those aren't mine without repeating myself....as everyone knows I´m just owning this idea and the bad grammar´`.´`....but sorrowfully none of the boys

Author ramblings: Having twelve hours school a day plus homework to do plus tests to learn for PLUS pesky acting teachers should be forbidden by law! No wonder that I got ill@.@* ...And I wanted to write faster ´`´`* Gomen again, I'll try to do better next time. ´`´` Hope you like it!

Please review. Pretty pretty pleeaaze, yes?´`´`

What he certainly hadn't planned

Chapter 8

For a moment Yohji just sat on the bed next to Crawford and stared at the photography in his hand, his mind simply denying what he was seeing. When he finally had convinced himself that it wasn't just some liquor-indicated nightmare he started cursing. 

Crawford watched as he quickly checked the room for any possibilities to spy on them and, having found none, began pacing up and down in front of him, the whole time displaying an amazing -and very imaginative- vocabulary of Japanese curses. Seemingly having reached a decision the blonde suddenly stopped in front of Crawford pointing a finger in his direction.

"You!" He looked at Crawford as if he'd see him for the first time. Obviously he'd finally figured out that Brad really was ´Brad´. Crawford glided unobtrusive into a position from where he could change into a fighting stance within seconds. 

Yohji still stared at him. "You!" he repeated, " will not move from this spot until I´m back! It might be that you're in great danger so do what I say, ´kay?" 

Not even waiting for an answer he dashed out of the room. 

Crawford nearly facefaulted. He'd really thought that the lanky playboy had figured out his true identity right then and there. Casting an irritated look after the departed blonde he wondered how long he'd still be able to keep this masquerade up.

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Within not even ten minutes Yohji had not only managed to gather the rest of Weiß again in the basement room, but also to get them wide awake and ready. The photo had worked wonders in the second part. 

Though it'd been a little difficulty in the task to get them all down there. When Yohji had left it'd been pretty late in the night (once again), and so the most of them were more or less asleep. Omi and Ken hadn't been very problematic, Yohji just having to bang onto their doors until they opened, but Aya…

Aya was sleeping like a rock. One could place a stereo system right next to his bed and turn the volume on max. while at the same time a thunderstorm was raging like crazy, and he wouldn't even stir. 

But if Aya wasn't sleeping he could get pretty pissed off when somebody was too loud. Yohji had to risk a dangerous encounter of the Katana-wielding sort to get the redhead out of his room. 

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"Do you remember that woman who'd left this package for Brad? Look what was in it."

Yohji stopped long enough in his pacing to hand Omi the photo. Bright blue eyes widened at the sight of it's motive and a shocked expression replaced the concerned one he'd been wearing since Yotan had called them down there. Seeing their team-mate's reaction Aya and Ken moved closer. Getting a better look at the picture their expressions also darkened.

"Was that the only content?" Surprisingly it was Aya who spoke first. Yohji shook his head. He was far too nervous to stay calm enough to sit down like the others, so he kept moving instead. "Ie. There was also some sort of Tarot-game in it. Brad found the picture in the sticking inside of the cover." Ken looked up questionally "A Tarot-game? Don't you use that to see into the future? Why would somebody send something like that?" 

Omi shrugged helplessly "Maybe it's some sort of threat or hint." "About who'd sent it ." "Mm-hmm. Or why." Yohji gestured widely with his hands. "Just why do always _we_ have to put up with all the psychos? Don't they have somebody else to screw with?!" He pointed an accusing finger at his team-mates. "Okay, spill it! Who's hiding the lunatic-magnet in his closet?"

"…"

Green eyes twinkled in amusement. "Come on! I know one of you does!" Aya scowled at him. "This is not the time to crack jokes; Kudou." Finally flopping down on the couch Yohji sighed. Giving the cold redhead a tired grin, he retorted "I know. But it's just a little much don't you think? First Schwarz with all their powers, then this strange riddle-packet. I wouldn't be surprised anymore to find a real demon sleeping in the fridge." 

Omi smiled slightly at the taller blondes comparison. Still, he had to agree with him. Since their first meeting with Schwarz their lives had gotten more and more weird. Things like supernatural powers had gotten to daily routine, not surprising them anymore where others wouldn't even be able to believe it. Omi had thought that those things would vanish from their live with the other assassin team just like they had come with them, but apparently he'd been wrong. Or they'd never been really gone. _´Seeing the future through cards…´_ Crawford's gift had been/was clairvoyance, making Schwarz's leader to one of the most mean opponents to fight. Omi decided to voice that thought.

"I doubt that you'll have to bee afraid of that Yohji-kun." The young blonde smiled from his seat at the other, then becoming serious again he added, "But if it's a hint it could mean oracle from Schwarz." 

Yohji and Aya nodded. Since they'd heard about their nemesis resurfacing none of them really believed in the ´they all died back then´-theory Kritiker had told them more or less anymore. Of course Kritiker hadn't really told them that they had died, but they _had_ been reassuring them more than once that there were no chance of them surviving. Maybe too often.

"So you think that it's one of Schwarz's mind-games again?" Omi shrugged helplessly. He really hadn't any hint of idea about that. "Maybe." 

Yohji nodded slowly. It would make sense. If Schwarz was up again and furthermore working for a head of a child trading ring or something like that, it would make sense. Yohji was quite sure that Brad was involved with something like that. The boy had been knowing definitely too much about something and therefore, had been tried to be reduced to silence. Probably after being tormented. That and the boy's persistent inability to remember would make perfect sense.

"I don't think so!"

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Ken who'd been unnaturally silent until now. "Really? And why not Kenken?" Starting to squirm under his team-mates inquiring gazes Ken shrugged sheepishly. "I mean, just think about it! Since when does Schwarz send us greeting cards when they're planning something? Normally they just clash on us durin´ missions or somethin´ like that."

Omi nodded slowly, getting what the brunette was trying to say. "Ken-kun´s right. Like when Schuldig approached me about Ouka. Until now they were always approaching us personally when they thought that it was time to."

"They'd showed us often enough that they didn't think of us as a real treat."

That growled statement came from Aya. Ken nodded excited at that. "Exactly! Just what I mean!" Aya and Yohji glared at him. Ken had enough decency to sweatdrop. "Err… I mean that they were always showing them openly!" Both of the older man nodded. 

Trying to find the right words Ken gestured widely. "Well, what I actually mean is…is… Oh, I don't know! It's just not like them!"

"Right. Once you were cooperating in thoughts, Kenken." Pause "Where's my calendar? I have to mark this date." "Hey!" Ken faked a punch in Yohji´s direction. 

"So who do you think is it then?" Both men stopped playing at that question. Ken sweatdropped again. "Anou.., I really don't know….Hey! How ´bout this women anyway? You now, the one who'd brought it?" 

Yohji nodded approvingly. "Kenken, you could be really right for once. Something's not right with that lady, I can tell you. …What?" Noticing that he was caught goggling Omi blushed slightly. "You mean, it wasn't just some joke? You really didn't try to hit on her?" Seeing the younger blondes wide stare, Yohji humped in slight annoyance. Really, just because he once hadn't been trying to get into some girl's pants… just what were they thinking about him? That he was a notorious playboy who was hunting about every (good looking) skirt (which was in the right age)?! 

"Honestly, Omittchi. Do I have to race after every well built lady, I see?" Omi was now openly gaping at him, Ken suitly following his example and even Aya had rose an questioning eyebrow at him. 

Yohji sighed in defeat. They were just knowing him too good sometimes. "Alright, normally I would, but there was something about her, I dunno, as if she was radiating danger." They kept looking at him. "Hmm, how should I explain this to you? You know this strange felling one gets around berserk? Just like that. You're not going voluntary near to somebody like that!"

"And you really felt that around her? I didn't feel anything at all!" Yohji gave Ken a exhausted look. "Of course not. No offence Ken, but for something like that you need sensitiveness and experience about women and you don't have anything of that at all." 

Omi nodded thoughtfully. That would make quite sense. Suddenly remembering something, he started to speak when Aya all of a sudden made a hasty gesture, abruptly quietening the others. 

In the following silence they could hear the soft tapping of somebody coming down the spiral staircase. The footsteps were soft, nearly inaudible, and muffled as if the person coming down was trying to evade being noticed by them. In one single swift move Aya was up and by the door. 

The same second the invader had reached the bottom end of the stairs, Aya lunged. 

Unfortunately he'd aimed for an fully grown-up person and that failed miserably to hit something else than vain air. Instead he stumbled into Brad, nearly knocking the boy down in process. 

"Brad!"

All four assassins sweatdropped. Out of some reason they'd expected that strange woman to appear as on clue, not the dark-haired teen. Of course it also wasn't that good to have him finding them like that. Omi looked surprised at the slightly dazed boy. "Brad! What are _you_ making down here?" Brad countered with a slight scowl. "I could ask you the same. First Yohji´s dashing off like chased by the devil after seeing the photo, shouting something about me being in danger and then I´m finding you down here, hiding like some assassins planning their next coup. What's going on?!"

Yohji grinned sheepishly. "Ah, gomen ´bout that. Simply forgot that you were waiting. Angry, Chibi?" 

Brad gave him a irritated look then sighed and shook his head. "Not if you're finally going to tell me what's going on." 

Yohji sweatdropped. "What's going on? Nothing's go…Oh! You mean the photo! Just some bad joke, nothing to worry yourself at all! Hahaha! I really fell for it. Guess I overreacted. Sorry ´bout that." Rubbing his head in a sheepish manner he glanced at Brad to see if the boy was buying his little act. Obviously not. 

Sneaking a sidelong glance at him Ken whispered "Really great, Yohji. Even _I_ could have done better than that!" "Then why you haven't?!" Yohji glaring returned in the same volume. 

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"Aya?"

Seeing that he wouldn't get any further, Brad had turned his attention at the silent redhead. Hearing his name Aya flinched ever so slightly. Since he'd nearly tackled Brad he'd been busy avoiding to let anybody notice the slight blush which had crept over his face.

´Damn, why is it irritating me so much?! It's not like I haven't touched anybody before!´ That had already been the second more or less full-body contact he'd made with the boy in a very short space of time. Sure, Aya wasn't liking to be touched (or touch) at all, but that it was affecting him that much…That simply wasn't normal. Especially since it had been accidentally both times, not like something planned. _´Maybe it's that. Neither Brad nor me was having any intentions in it.´_ The girls in the shop were groping them all the time and Aya just thought it as annoying, but this time…something had been different there. And it had already happened twice. _`Or it wasn't because what, but _who _had done it.´ _Sneaking a glace at Brad out of the corner of his eye, Aya couldn't other than to notice once again how much Brad looked like Crawford. 

That was nonsense of course. No one could shrink humans, or make them younger or something like that! And even if, Crawford wouldn't have acted like that. The Schwarz leader would have attacked them at sight and anyway, he and Brad were having two totally different characters. Where the oracle was simply cold and bad, so stupid it sounded, Brad was having a real character. Though he also carried an air of aloofness around himself, it was from a different, more protecting than anything else, nature. 

O yeah, Aya knew that the boy wasn't having amnesia. 

He was finding himself much too good around to have lost any memories. But he also knew that look in his eyes. That look in those amber-browns was flickering with emotions when he thought himself unobserved. Anger, insecurity and hurt laid in them, desperately trying to be hidden away. Somehow resembling his owns…Maybe that was the reason why Aya hadn't given him away by now.

Although his visual resemblance to his most hated enemy (and part-timely even sharing of his name) Brad was too much like him and his beloved imouto to be hated. For what he was able to make out of the situation he was in, Aya felt compassion for him. The same time Brad was trying to be strong and unfazeable, he was still weakened and not able to protect himself, like Aya-chan had been. ´_So much like myself after Aya-chan had fallen into that coma.´_ Aya- RAN wanted to prevent Brad from following his path. To spare him from being stained with blood for the rest of his life like him.

Maybe that was the reason that the stoic redhead found himself caring that much for the fragile looking boy. That he was somehow seeing a second chance for himself in him. 

Still…Why the hell had he to blush like that?! 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Brad rose a slim eyebrow at Aya, seeing that the redhead wasn't going to answer anytime soon, and turned to the last member of Weiß. Omi gulped. He didn't like the thoughtful look he was been given. 

No, not at all. It definitely meant that Brad was up for something. And Omi wasn't sure at all that they would be able to talk their way out of it. "Omi." The young blonde started at the use of his name. "Hai?"

Looking him directly into his eyes, Brad continued "On our way back from the cemetery…You said we're friends." Omi nodded. What was he trying to get to? 

"Hai." 

"Then why do you keep lying at me? I know that you're hiding something, it's obvious. You four are miraculously always going out at the same time, coming back with scratches and other injuries. And if I ask, you keep telling me some dumb story about how you stumbled and whatever else. I´m no fool Omi, just because I´m not asking doesn't mean that I´m not noticing it."

A dead-silence had spread over them as Brad stopped speaking. Then…

"So?" 

Though it had been again Aya who asked, it could have been everyone of them. Brad looked at each one of them and continued just after he'd made eye contact with all of the four.

"So? I´m already knowing that Omi´s a hacker. I don't know what the rest of you three's making, but it has to be something dangerous. And please don't tell me that crap about being florists, that won't work. You four are earning far too much for that. So? Will you tell me now, or not?"

For a moment everyone in the room was looking at Aya. Just after a nearly invisible nod of him Omi cleared his throat and started explaining. "You're right Brad. The flower shop's really just a cover. I, Yohji-kun, Ken-kun and Aya-kun are members of a group called Weiß. We're working for a group called ´Kritiker´. It's our job to stop those criminals, whose are finding a loophole in the law, from their activities." Clear blue eyes looked straight into amber-browns. "Mostly it's just data retrieving though." 

That was a downright lie. Out of knowledge Omi had left the part about the killing, not wanting to trouble the other boy with it. "Like some withe knights also?" Like expected, Brad's face didn't give any hint about what he was thinking of this revealings.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford watched Omi wincing at his question. Personally, he hoped that he'd been able to keep the sarcastic edge out of his voice.

Yeah, maybe this whole action was really just mean, but hey, they were the enemy team and Crawford needed all information he could get. Alright, maybe seeing Weiß squirming like that was also amusing him in some sadistic way. However…

Seeing that Omi was most to answer him honestly, he focused his questions at him. "You are knowing more about this, don't you?" He gestured to the photography Ken was holding currently. Omi nodded. "And I take it that it was more than some dumb joke?"

"Hai."

"And you're knowing the person who's behind it."

"Anou, we think we do."

Brad rose a eyebrow. "You think?"

"We're not sure. There are two possibilities.", Omi started " First the woman who'd brought the package. It is possible that she's out of some reason after you. Probably the same which had left you in the alley like that."

"Unfortunately we don't know anything about her. Neither if she's working alone nor if it's just a personal grudge or something more serious." He paused. " The second one is that it is Schwarz. That'd be more awful."

Crawford nearly did a double-take facefault. _Schwarz? Were they trying to be hilarious?!_

Seeing the surprised look on Crawford's face and totally mistaking it as confusion Yohji continued Omi´s speech. "They're another team, similar to us. But in their way they're totally different the same time. –Brad, you must not tell anybody about all of this. It's top-secret, do you understand?" 

Still dazed Crawford nodded.

Steadying himself Yohji started again. _´How to explain a fifteen-years old that he was maybe targeted by a group of professional killers?´_ He'd have to be careful to keep the boy from freaking out. "Schwarz, or black, as they call themselves is like us a group of professionals. but they're also uhm…"

"They are assassins."

At the sound of his deep voice all of them turned to Aya. It didn't happen often that their cold leader was talking out of himself. Yohji gritted his teeth. _´Great. As subtle as possible, like always!´_

"A team of assassins who're working for everyone who's having the money to pay them." Aya went on. Unfazed by the reproachful look he got from the other, he added. "If we are going to tell him about them, we should tell him all of it."

Omi nodded in approval. "Aya-kun´s right. If we're wanting to have a chance he needs to know everything." Turning to Crawford "Brad, what you're going to hear now will sound ridiculous, but you have to believe us. It's the truth, and only the truth."

Crawford crooked an eyebrow. _´Might sound ridiculous? If they'd just know how ridiculous this already is!´_

"Go on."

"Alright. Schwarz is an assassin team, but not a normal one. They're all having …special gifts. Supernatural powers." Crawford nodded. "Like us, there are four of them. First there is prodigy. A fifteen year old boy with brown hair and telekinetic powers. He's the only Japanese out of them – the rest are gaijin. 

He's not very likely to attack you, contrary to mastermind and berserk. Those two are both not very heavy to recognize. Mastermind's having long flaming orange-red hair and is also quite tall – nearly as big as Aya-kun. A German, I believe, and a mind-reader. He's a sadistic bastard who loves to toy with his victims, so be careful. 

He's very dangerous but berserk's even more. He's a white-haired psychopath with only one eye, many scars and a weakness for knifes and other sharp objects. He loves to torture and kill to ´hurt god´ and is incapable to feel any pain himself."

"If you meet him your live´s in real danger, so call us immediately." The sandy-blonde paused shortly. "That applies to all of them. Just you never try something alone against one of them! You wouldn't stand a glimpse of a chance to survive." _´They seem to be honestly worried about me´ _Crawford noted with surprise.

Yohji cleaned his throat. "Don't forget Oracle, Omittchi." "No, no, I won't." Turning to the supposedly younger boy Omi took a deep breath and continued on the last unnamed member of Schwarz. 

"Last but no least there is also Oracle. He's the leader of the group. His gift is to see the future. I know, that doesn't sound much compared to the others, but he's not to be underestimated. He's wearing glasses, but aside from that he's bearing a eerie resemblance to you. He's also American."

Crawford had to keep himself from laughing out loud. _`Eerily similar?! You don't know how much I am exactly resembling him! One could even say that we're one and the same person.`_

Instead he asked, keeping a neutral face "He's the one you named me after, isn't he?"

Omi nodded. "Yes. Yohji-kun thought that it was a good joke." The bigger blonde smiled lazily.

"It is. Think about it. It might be that we'll have to protect Brad from Schwarz. That _IS_ a joke."

Ignoring the interference Omi went on in his explanation. "His real name is Brad Crawford. Like prodigy your chances to meet him are not very high, but if you do it's high probably already too late."

"Yeah." Ken piped up. "He's somehow a little like those final bosses in computer games."

"He's not much to fight you directly. It's more like he has already arranged your death and is watching your struggles superciliously."

"Gee, great thanks" Crawford mumbled. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford had returned to his room after this ´revelation´ pretending that that all was a little much for him at once. 

In truth he just wanted to think things over.

The theory that _Schwarz_ out of all things, was after him was just as ridiculous as the whole situation he was currently in. No, it was certainly nobody of Schwarz. The whole thing literally reeked after somebody else he knew. _´Estet.´_ That was it. Just the right setting for one of their little intrigues. 

Silently Crawford cursed himself in his mind. It was so obvious, if one thought over it. The coincidence in which he got separated from the rest of his team. The state he'd woken in the next time. The fact that he wasn't getting any connections with the others. Some high-ranked airhead was playing his scheme again and he was caught up in it. _Oh the joy_. Flopping on the bed Crawford asked himself just why he hadn't seen any of this. The answer was clear. _´If I'd known about this I'd never let it happen.´_ But that was the problem of his gift. His visions were limited in time to the near immediate future. Visions which went over this limit were series of dishevelled, interlocked pictures, impressions and feelings, heavy to read and so seldom that Crawford could count them down on his fingers.

Of course Crawford hadn't been that blue-eyed to think that they could kill the elders and went by unnoticed with it. _´But so soon´ _

It had all happened immediately after their stroke and that quick as if it had been the cue for a long-prepared action. _´As if somebody was already knowing what we were up for.´_ That was nonsense. He'd taken good care that nothing leaked out, not even letting the other members of Schwarz know about his real intentions. So how? Another precog? But where? And who? 

There weren't that much clairvoyants working for Estet and even scarce which were high in rank enough for such an action. Crawford gritted his teeth.

If another clairvoyant was involved things were getting a lot more complicated than thought. He'd have to plan carefully. When he'd left Omi had been trying to tell them about some mysterious e-mail he'd received shortly before the system had crashed. That was directly after he'd found out that Schuldig was lured to where? –Hamburg? Munich? doesn't matter, somewhere in Germany. Anyway, it could be directly involved with that it was taking the redhead that long to return. Over a week had passed and not even the troublesome German could dawdle away that much time without any reasons. 

And then the fact that it was far too quiet for having someone like Farfarello running around freely…

Naturally Nagi could be taking care of him, but what if not? As much as Crawford disliked it he had to face that he was caring for the three of them very much. Having them spread out in history of humankind and not knowing if they were still alive or not like that wasn't pleasing him at all. 

__

´God, Schuldig! Just where the hell are you?!´

Being troubled with thoughts like that Crawford had a hard time finding any rest that night. 

__

´… Since when am I calling Weiß at their first names anyway?´

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Schuldig grinned broadly as he watched one of his pursuers through a mirroring showcase. One should really think that they've figured out that their mental shields weren't working against him after that disaster in Munich. But no, there they were, in some cheap fast-food restaurant at the airport of Moscow, still playing the same game.

The man in question was failing miserably at his try to hide his gun while pretending to read newspaper. Briefly Schuldig wondered if he was even noticing that he was holding it the wrong way. 

Then he stopped short _´Christ, he's even poked peepholes into it!´_

All the German could do was not to laugh out loud. Those beginners were really acting more foolish than should be allowed. To think that they were sent to catch him – one could as well send mice to hunt a tiger. 

__

´Here we go.´

The redhead watched amusedly the approaching man and went to leave the shop just in time to ruin the other attempts to charge. Chuckling at the guy's mental curses he rounded a corner –and barely evaded to crash into a waitress. Following a spontaneous inspiration Schu quickly sent a mental order to her while pushing by.

Moments later he heard a shriek followed by a smacking sound.

Casting a quick glance back Schuldig left the restaurant laughing. The waitress was still busy smacking her tray on the poor guy's head, shouting something about criminals. /

//Attention! Attention! J-Airways requests all passengers to Tokyo, Japan to check-in immediately!// Ah, perfect timing. If the others would just know how much fun they were missing!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter 8

AR the second (you didn't really believe I'd spare you that, did you?´`´`): Huge thanks and group bear-glomps to all who have reviewed the last chapter! Soo much reactions! Over fourteen reviews! Thanks minna you're simply great!´`_´`

BlackWind, Akeru (sorry for not answering your mail, my server's somehow screwed ´`´`*), yue, Lei-chan, Malefici, Enna Namo, Blume, Snickerdoodle, pink bunny, Ryuke-chan, Green Jello, Yami no Tenshi (thanks for drawing my attention to that, must have overlooked it´`´`*), Kyra (see I didn't forget it´`´`) and Draco Aries. 

Ahem, I've also decided that another member of Schwarz is going to show up by Weiß in the next chapter. Guess who? ´`.´`

See the button down there? Click on it. 

No, not the ´report abuse´! The other! Yeah, right there. The ´submit review´. 

Click it. Please? ´`.´`


	9. 9 hedgehog dilemma

Disclaimers: Neither one of the Weiß nor of the Schwarz boys belongs to me (though I'd really not mind if they'd be given to me´`_´`*), I'm not making any money with this and I'm poor so suing me wouldn't do you any good. 

Warnings: Due to continuous grammar errors and mistranslations of phrases I'm looking now for a beta-reader. Job description: read and tell me of my errors and parts which aren't making any sense by mailing me. Unluckily I can only pay you in brownies for I'm still in school and my cookies are falling under the category of ´painful suicide´.´`´`*. Interested? Then please mail me on  blackoracle@telering.at .    umm, one could say the promised shonen-ai´s starting, OOC-ness and that's it. Hope you have fun! ´`´`

What he certainly hadn't planned

Chapter 9

"Yohji!! You did it again! My soccer ball!"

The howl got followed by the loud thuds of somebody running over stairs and the slamming of a door. "Hey Keken. What's u- oh, you noticed." A short silence. Then a door slammed and one could hear the distinctive noises of a soccer fan out for blood and the man who'd desecrated his soccer ball.

In short, exactly that sort of racket one loves to wake up to. Crawford swore when he felt a bounding headache come up. Strange wise it was pounding just exactly in the same beat as the pounding of the foots.

_´What a way to start a morning.´_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Ken finally managed to corner Yohji  in the shop when the fatal happened. Being his clumsy self, the brunette tripped and crashed into the arrangement Aya had been working on for hours. 

Right next to him.

Feeling the upcoming storm, they both turned to the redhead. And gulped. Violet eyes were narrowed in anger as he looked from the sad remnants to the two malefactors. The glare of death deepened.

"Yohji. Ken. SHIII –NEE!!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Upstairs Crawford could hear the two yelp.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Run faster Ken!"

„I´m trying!"

"Then why don't you DO it?!"

Somewhere else in the house a ,-in lack of a katana-, broom-wielding angry redhead out for murder was chasing two unlucky, (former as his co-workers Yohji and Ken known), men.  

And to their horror he was catching up.

"Make way there!"

"Hey! Don't leave me with him!!"

Yeah, it was a normal day in the Koneko sumu Ie. Both fleeing men were trying to break the sound barrier, Ken one step after Yohji, when suddenly something totally unexpected happened. 

A door opened.

Direct in front of the on-storming Yohji. 

Being confronted with the inevitable coming crash into the hard surface the blond playboy tried to change from running at high-speed into a standing position within one second. For a moment one could literally hear his soles screech like some tortured brakes. 

To his own surprise Yohji really managed to stop, though just barely inches away from the door.

 Sorrowfully, Ken didn't.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The brunette ex-soccer player slammed right into Yo-tan, crashing him face-first into the door. The door got thrown back in its hinges, effectually nearly shutting the unexpected visitors out and making them yelp in surprise. 

"Onee-san!"

"Aya-san! Ken-san, Yohji-san!"

"Aya-kun?"

Omi chose this moment to come downstairs, followed by Crawford. Crawford gave the assembled men (and girls) a questioning look, but remained silent. 

Omi´s face immediately brightened at the sight of the two young girls as Crawford noticed. None the less the scene right in front of them wasn't less noticeable. Aya had stopped in mid-movement, still holding the broomstick in the air like a katana, Ken was standing next to the door, rubbing his head in a nervous manner and the two girls, one with dark braids, one with shorter also dark hair, had let themselves in by then, and were now looking as much at a loss as he and Omi. And Yohji was leaning against the door, seeming to have passed out. (in the swirly-eyed manner, you know what I mean ´`´`*)

Omi had also noticed the poor condition of the lanky playboy.

"…What happened Ken-kun?"

That undid the freeze the others seemed to be in. Aya quickly lowered the broom, trying to look as casual as possible, and Ken sweatdropped and looked even more nervous than before.

"Uhm…Yeah…You know...I was angry at Yohji ´cause he messed with my soccer ball again and er… somehow I tripped and broke the flower arrangement Aya had worked over and that right next to him. ..um, Aya got really mad and chased us with the broomstick…" The two girls started to giggle at that. Ken sweatdropped. Aya started to scowl. "Anou…we were running away from him ´cause Aya looked like he was going to kill us and then Aya suddenly opened the door and I couldn't stop in time, so I ran against Yohji who'd stopped in time and…" Gesturing at the blonde he grinned sheepishly at them.

"…He ran against the door Aya opened, because you were chased by Aya?"

"U-huh." Ken's grin widened at that. Said like that it was really sounding strange. Slightly giggling, Omi said "I think we should introduced our guests with each other. Brad this are Sakura-chan and Aya-chan. Aya-chan is Aya-kun´s little sister. And Sakura-chan´s a good friend of us all."

"Sakura-chan, Aya-chan, this is Brad. We found him lying badly hurt in an alley, so we took care of him." Both girls greeted Crawford friendly, Sakura having blushed a little at being called a good friend. Briefly returning their greetings, Crawford gazed at them. Having the two girls he'd contributed to kidnap and nearly killing them greet him happily and choke around with Weiß felt somehow strange. _´This is nearly as chaotic as at home.´_

A little later they all had made themselves comfortable in the living room. Aya-chan and Sakura were happily chatting with Yohji, Ken and Omi while Crawford and Aya (male) were simply sitting and listening to them. Feeling somebody's gaze resting on him Crawford looked up and met Aya-chan´s dark eyes. Noticing that she was caught staring Aya-chan smiled apologetically. 

Sitting down next to him she smiled again. "Hello." "Hi." Oddly enough the scarce reply was making her smile even more. "You know, I'm having all along this feeling as if  I have seen you somewhere before. Have we already met? I believe it was near some water." _´Urk.´_ Well, that was great. Not even one of Weiß was just near at guessing his true identity and this girl who hadn't even met him consciously was right on it. Keeping his silence he shook his head. 

"Nnn-nn." "Really?" She blinked slightly disappointed. "And I was so sure…" 

Though her disappointment wasn't for long before her mood brightened again. Pointing one finger grinning at his head she said "But I'm sure that I can tell what you were thinking about!" Taking Crawford's risen eyebrow as a sign to go on, she continued. "You were wondering why they call both, me and my Onee-san, Aya, right?" Noticing that her smile was  infectious Crawford allowed the corners of his mouth to twitch upwards a bit. 

"A bit maybe." He confessed. Schuldig had told him once, but he hadn´t been listening back then. Aya-chan´s smile brightened even more. Now she was looking like a little child which was going to tell something it thought of as a big secret. "You have to know that my Onee-san´s real name isn't Aya. He just took my name while I was in a coma due to a car incident. In that time he met Omi-, Ken- and Yohji-kun and, well…" she giggled, "now he's Aya-kun and I Aya-chan. Our real names are Aya and Ran Fujimiya. Glad to meet you!" 

She giggled again. "You're speaking as less as my Onee-san." She smiled sweetly. "He's not very talkative and gets sometimes a little bit overprotective, but to me he's the best big brother of the world. I'm really happy that we are having at the same time a time off." 

"…Brad?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure that we haven't met before?´`´`"

"….."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford was relieved when the others decided to go out together, wasn't it giving him a chance to get his composure back and try to get finally back in touch with the rest of is team. 

Aya-chan had kept asking him from where they were knowing each other the whole time, always waiting until he had relaxed himself again before starting a new try. And when she then suddenly had jumped up and had shouted ´Brad Crawford!!´ he'd nearly gotten a heart attack out of shock. If  she at least wouldn't have shouted right into his ear… To his luck the others managed to get her off from the idea that he was the rejuvenated leader of Schwarz. If she would've succeed in convincing them of her theory he'd have been mincemeat. Not that Crawford wasn't a good fighter, no, not at all, but all alone against four very angry trained assassins he'd wouldn't have had much a chance, even with the element of surprise at his side.

In short, this time it´d been sheer dumb luck which has rescued him.

The more Crawford was grateful that he was having some time for himself now. Maybe he could reach Nagi or Schuldig by phone. (Due to obvious reasons Farfie wasn't having one – he never answers any call's ´`´`) Also his headache from the morning was making itself felt again. 

Planning on getting himself some painkiller from the kitchen before doing anything else, Crawford entered the room. And froze.

There, sitting at the kitchen table and reading, was nobody else than Aya/Ran Fujumiya, his potential archenemy until death. The redhead looked up from his book and granted him one of his rare nearly- smiles. Crawford returned it with one of his –not less seldom- own, though it was a bit unstable. Starting to search for the medicine in the cabinets, Crawford asked "I thought that you were going with them." Aya shrugged. 

"Hn." 

Crawford sighed silently. _`What could  you expected?´_ It was obvious that he'd have to ask more directly to get any useful answers. "Didn't you want to go with them?" Aya had buried himself back in his book. "Hn." This time he didn't hold back the sigh. "I got the impression that your sister was very happy to see you." 

That worked. With a sigh of his own the redhead laid his book aside and watched instead Crawford roaming the cabinets. _´Where were this stupid things again?´_

"I would also have liked to spent time with her, but Omi needs the software for his computer, Ken has soccer practice with those kids and Yohji –" 

"-was quicker at coming up with some good excuse than you." Crawford finished the sentence. _´So they went shopping.´ _Behind him Aya´s lips quirked into a small grin for a moment. "Aa." "I still don't see why you didn't went with them." A chair could be heard moved. "Then you would've been here alone. What do you search for?" The voice came direct from Crawford's back now, meaning that Aya had to be standing very close behind him. 

"Some painkiller. I'm having a headache." Aya silently took the asked for from a cabinet and handed it to Crawford. Then he returned to his seat at the table. Crawford prepared the medicament and also took a seat. "If it's only because of me, you don't have to stay for." 

The leader of Weiß waited silently until Crawford had finished taking the medicine before asking "Do you want me to go?" Crawford barely caught himself from saying ´yes´. Instead he evaded, shrugging "I'd just like to have some peace."  Aya nodded.

For a moment he eyed Crawford in a waging way, then he asked, having made some secret decision. "Want to go out?" "?" Crawford watched the redhead wearily. "To where?" "A calm place." Crawford shrugged. 

_`What could it hurt?´_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

As promised the place was really silent and also not that far away from the shop. Though Crawford recognized it as the same park where Ken and the kids were practicing soccer, this part was totally different.

Aya had led him some time ago from the much used paths, following an old, half-hidden beaten path until they had reached something what looked like a small stone-step which was more or less covered by bushes and old leaves. They had slipped through a nearly invisible hole between the bushes and were now standing by an old playground on a clearing. A wooden frame was hosting two swings, with a little tower with a slide on one side and a pair of  rings on the other. Two wooden rectangular frames resting in the grass indicated that there once had been two sandpits for children to play and also two banks made of stone were resting in the light shadow of some bigger bushes, to grant the watching adults some piece. 

Normally Crawford wasn't liking such childish places as playgrounds, but this one was different. The whole place was radiating a strange feeling, as strong that he could nearly grab it with his hands. Though the place was openly lying at the corner of a much used meadow, nobody was ever coming any near this place. 

That the playground was vacated, was pretty obvious. The surfaces wooden frames were sprinkled with different shades of brown and green, from the sandpits were only frames standing between planes of grass left and even the grass looked somehow darker and more unruly grown. In a dark stormy night it´d be the perfect setting for a horror movie. But now the sun was shining warmly and an air of  lazy contentment filled the place.

"I told you that it is a peaceful place."

The redhead sounded somewhat self-satisfied when he said that. Striding to one of the benches, he took a seat. When he looked at Crawford a small smile shone in his eyes "It has a special feeling." 

Crawford nodded slowly. Sitting down on the other bench he looked around. "As if it has been forgotten by humans."

Aya laughed softly, startling the (meantime) teen. "Yeah, isn't it?" The look of those vibrant violet eyes got a bit wistful. "When we were little our mum used to come here with me and Aya-chan. Back then everything was still alright and we played until break of exhaustion. Later, I went with Aya-chan here and watched her play from one of the benches. And after her incident I came here, when it was becoming too much for me to stand."

He shook his head. When he continued speaking a slight hint of a smile was playing over his features. "Now, my imouto is back to health again, and we are both too old to play here anymore and I still keep coming back." 

"Maybe because it had become your sanctuary."

Aya glanced up in surprise at those words. _´A sanctuary…´_ He hadn't thought of that. In the meantime Crawford was trying to resist the urge to slap himself for saying something stupid like that. But wasn't it that, what he'd first thought at seeing this place?

Casting another look at his surroundings he noticed that at least some cats visited the place on a regular base. Or how else should that dried rest of a mouse get in front of his bench? Still, a sanctuary with no bigger competition than a cat in such a big city in Japan like that, was a very good one. Not willing to spent the rest of his stay there in front of a mouse-cadaver the dark-haired boy stood up and sat down next to Aya, unintentionally startling the redhead again.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Aya tensed up in surprised when he felt Brad sit down next to him. Had he really been too much caught up to notice him coming over? He sighed softly. "Guess you're right. It really has become a sanctuary to me."

…

"..Then why have you taken me here, then?" Aya gave Brad a questioning look. The smaller boy sighed. "You said it is your sanctuary. A sanctuary is normally a secret place which only you are knowing. _Your_ sanctuary. Brining me here means to risk that it's getting destroyed."

For a moment the redhead simply stared at Crawford, then he did something absolutely          un-ayaish. He started to chuckle. Crawford watched with horrified fascination as the chuckles turned into soft laughter. _`Jesus! With exactly what kind of weird stuff did they drug him this morning?!´_ After having regained his composure back, Aya gave him an amused look, a _real_ smile gracing his lips.

"Because it felt safe to trust you."

Crawford stared shell-shocked at his most-worst enemy. Did he hear right?! His most persistent enemy Abyssinian, who wouldn't have liked anything better than to ram his katana into him not even a month before, was telling him now that he was trusting him?! Life still plays the most nastiest tricks to one. 

"But you trusted me the least of all when I came to you!" He couldn't quite keep his voice from raising.  

Aya´s smile thinned, but stayed. "That's right. But now I do." Brad gaped at him openly. But for he was Crawford, not for long. Quickly catching himself he chuckled slightly –and winced at the sound of his own voice. Instead of his usual, dark chuckle it was sounding more like a happy giggle! Once again Crawford swore painful revenge to those who were responsible for this. He was still totally out of use of having a fifteen years old body. And personally he wasn't that wild at getting used on it again at all.

Allowing himself to drop back he noticed that he could just lie on it comfortably, when letting his feet dangle. _´God, am I really that small?!´_ Still, the warmth radiating from the sun-heatened stone under him and the feeling of having Aya sit there and silently watch over him was pretty nice. 

Right when Crawford was about to relax, Aya asked suddenly. "Who are you anyway?" The redhead watched the other tense up for a blink of a second. So he was right. He _was_ fooling them when he'd said that he couldn't remember a thing. "…huh?" Aya frowned slightly. 

"I know that you were lying when you said that you were having amnesia. You know very well who you are!" For some time those impressive amber-brown eyes shadowed, getting blank and unreadable. Then… 

"So? Then I do know who I am. What does that change?" Aya flinched at the dismissive tone of the answer, though he could also hear some suppressed hurt in it. Or was that just an imagination of him? Still, he had to know. "It means very much, Brad. You have to tell us if you know something about those who are after you."

The dark-haired boy humped and crossed his arms over his chest while intentionally avoiding eye contact with him. Aya sighed internally. _´_Now_ he's behaving like a little child.´_ What the redhead didn't knew was that Crawford had also brought himself into a good start position, if necessary. 

Behind him he could hear the leader of Weiß sigh. "Brad, if you don't want to tell the others, then tell at least me. I f you dot want me to, I won't tell anybody of it. But I have to know! How else can I protect you?" 

Amber-brown eyes went wide in shock. _´P-protect me? Aya?!?´_ Shifting uncomfortably, he said eventually "There's not much to say." "Still do it." The deeper voice insisted. Crawford sighed, his mind racing to find a way to tell without saying anything what was giving any hints of Schwarz or Estet being involved. 

"I don't really know that much about that person who's after me. I can only guess that's a sniper of the organisation I former worked for. And for my real name…just keep calling me Brad. If you'd know my real name you'd hate me." Silently Crawford hoped that counted as a good enough reason.

"What for a organisation was that? And why should I hate you?" 

Obviously not. Crawford used some of his more colourful curses in his head. _´Why, just why ME?! Why not Schuldig?! As I know him he'd enjoy such a situation to it's fullest.´_

"The organisation's name doesn't matter. I broke their rules _(´A very imaginative way to express that you very planning their heads deaths and even executed those plans´)_ and now they're after my head. You saw in which shape I was when you found me. It was their work. And there are special reasons why I can't tell you who I am." _´For example that you'd try to kill me right here and now.´_

"Brad…"

"No."

Aya sighed. It was obvious that he wouldn't hear any more form the boy, no matter how deep he probed. But he really couldn't imagine why he should hate Brad just because of his name. Omi was a born Takatori and he was getting along pretty well with him. So what? What could be more worse than a Takatori? He decided to take one last try.

"How can a name make me hate you?"

Brad sighed. "What if? What if I really am him? Brad Crawford from Schwarz?" Not waiting for the stunned redhead to answer, he went on. "Have your ever heard the phrase to never judge a book by it's cover? Thing's aren't always as innocent and nice as you'd like them to be. So stop asking me, for I won't answer that question. Alright?"

Slightly he felt ashamed for the hurt look the redhead gave him. Angered even more about this reaction, he asked "See? I told you that bringing me here would ruin this place."

Violet orbs slimed slightly. "I told you that I trust you. And you haven't destroyed anything." 

Both stayed like they were after this. Though Aya had still questions, they both felt that the conversation was over. So they stayed like they were for a while, Brad lying on the bench, Aya sitting next to his head. Aya watched some people passing by, obvious to their being here. 

It was always like that. No matter how near they went, they never really took any notice of the old playground or the persons who were there. It was really a sanctuary. Instead of the somehow violent air which was staying on other former much visited places like closed schools, this place had an eternal peaceful aura. As if the whole place had taken a break from the rest of the world and was now revelling in memories of the happy times people had spent there. Yeah, it was a real hidden sanctuary. Not like those attempted ones in churches or temples but a real one, created by time itself.

Dwelling in thoughts like that Aya first didn't notice that Brad had fallen asleep next to him. When he finally noticed, a smile threatened to creep over his face again. (They really must have put some drugs into his morning drink. Two smiles at one day…wow´`´`*)

_´He must've really had a bad night.´_ Looking at the peacefully sleeping boy, he wondered if his hair was really as soft as it looked like. Without thinking much he stretched his hand out and touched it. It wasn't only soft, it also felt like he was touching finest black silk. Cool and smooth to the touch, it was also a tad warm where it was attached to the scalp. Brad  sighed contently and moved into his hands touch. Obviously he was liking it.  

_´_..…._´_ A bit shocked by his own actions the redhead quickly stood up and went a few steps. What was he thinking he was doing there?! Even to think about having feelings like that! Okay, so maybe he was liking the boy, but he wasn't even willing to trust him enough to tell him his name! Developing any sort of attachment would be foolish.

With a sigh Aya dropped down next to some bushes in safe distance of the bank where Brad was still sleeping. Thoughtless he leaned back, propping his weight on his arms –and yelled out in pain.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford awoke to a pained yell. 

Glancing around he saw Aya, holding his right hand and cursing like crazy. "Aya, what-?" Aya stopped at that question, giving him a part embarrassed, part angry look. Raising his injured hand, he grumbled "I leaned on a hedgehog." Crawford blinked in surprise. That was definitely something new. "You what??"

Giving him a bad glare, the redhead repeated "I leaned on a hedgehog. I didn't notice that damn thing until it was too late." 

Still at a loss of words Crawford glanced from the partly perforated palm to the redheads face and back. About two thirds of the palm were covered with little red spots, some even bleeding a bit. Aya looked like he was angry with himself, a slight blush creeping over his features. Feeling that, the redhead quickly turned away, unsuccessfully trying to safe the little bit of what was left of his dignity. 

"…What were you actually doing there?"  The blush deepened. "Didn't want to disturb your sleep." "So you leaned instead on a hedgehog?" One could hear the amused tone in this question pretty well. Aya whirled around. "I didn't intend to! It was just a stupid mistake! How the heck should I know that some stupid hedgehog was hiding under the leafs?!" 

Crawford laughed at that outburst. _´Sounds like the hedgehog had been waylaying him.´_ Seeing the icy leader of Weiß acting like that was definitely something new for him. Something amusing new. 

"Look at the bright side of it. At least it wasn't a porcupine." Aya gave him a glare, though none of the death threats everyone else would've gotten for saying that. Brad just laughed in open gloat at that.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Shortly afterwards they were on their way back. Aya´s ´deadly wounds´ as Brad had entitled them, had to be disinfected soon. While trotting next to the small boy Aya still scolded himself for being so stupid as to lean onto a hedgehog. _´A trained assassin and doesn't notice a living bag of needles right under his hand´  _And all only because he hadn't been able to keep his hands from Brad.

The redhead was that caught up in his thoughts, that he didn't notice the short moment in which the boys eyes went blank. 

Thought he _did_ notice when the teen stopped shortly, only to dash away suddenly. Catching himself quickly he sprinted immediately after the dark-haired teen, shouting for him to stop.

Further in front Crawford heard Aya´s yells, but didn't pay any attention to them. _´Finally!´_ After over a goddamn week of waiting finally one of his team-mates felt inclined to show up. Cursing Crawford tried to shake off his pursuer, while trying to find the spot he'd seen in his vision, in time. 

For the first time his smaller body showed some benefits, for shaking off Aya by swiftly slipping between the pedestrians was no problem at all. Finding the right side street was different though. One problem of seeing the near future was that one had to react really fast. 

Finally finding the right one, Crawford entered it and came to a screeching halt. Not fife metres in front of him was standing nobody else than- "Farfarello!!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The one eyed albino turned at the shout of his name. One single golden eye fixed on the panting boy. The youth returned his stare with a equal one.

Amber-brown orbs met a single golden one. For a moment the world seemed to stand still.

Then a almost feral smile started to appear on the Irishman's scarred face. Crawford regarded the lunatics behaviour with distrust. He´d seen that expression on the other before. _´He wouldn´t-´ _

"Hurting children hurts god!"

_´ -he would.´_

"Shit!!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter 9

The chapter's title was inspired by NGE´s Hedgehog's Dilemma. Well, what came out after I occupied myself with it. ´`_´`* (For anyone who's knowing about what I'm talking´`´`)

Well, hope you had some fun reading this. Actually I'd planned more for this chapter, but then it´d have gotten too long. I'll simply put it in the next one.´`´` Ahem, I also don't know how good the shonen ai´s going to be, for it's my first try to write something like that. Please be gentle with me, I'm trying my best!´`´`* 

Great thanks and brownies to all who've reviewed the last chapter and twice as much for everyone who'd guessed for Farf. Snickerdoodle, Yami no Tenshi (I´ll tell you in the next chapter), Ayako, Blume, Lucifer, Ryuke-chan, BlackWind (also in the next one), S. Wing, Kyra (it´s already fixed in the plot), Stuntcat, C.M Aeris and P-chanmisao. ´`´` 

Like always suggestions, ideas, comments and even slight criticism is welcomed (well, the critics accepted). My last one-shot story just got one T-T, so I'm in the urgent need of them. Please review! does the puppy-dog-eyes trick


	10. 10 Traffic lection

Disclaimer: IdoownthemIdoownthemIdoownthem!- If I'll keep saying that they'll probably believe it and give them to me.´`´` Not? *censored*!! Alright, I _don't_ own them. Better? I only own the idea of this story and some bad grades at school.´`.´`*

Warnings: Current rating of this story +1 for violence. Also, as a little help for all those people who're having problems with names (I´m only having problems with reminding the fitting faces´`´`*) I'll give you a little help. So, here's a little memory aid. The two OC´s are:  Jilocasin – a French telepath at about Schu´s level of power and Tannin – psychic powers unknown, has hacked into Schwarz's computer systems. Both are hired snipers, sent after Schwarz. And that's it. Thanks for your attention and now's time for some action!´`´`

What he certainly hadn't planned 

Chapter 10

"Hurting children hurts god!"

"Shit!!"

Crawford had barely time to dodge Farfarello´s first attack. Snapping out of his shock-induced state, Crawford saw the crazy psycho launch himself at him again. This time he allowed him to tackle him, sending them both to the ground. "Farfarello!! It's me! Crawford!" Useless. The moment they started falling, Crawford jabbed his knee upwards, sending the Irishman flying past him in a wide bow.

/CRASH/

Out of the corner of his eyes Crawford could see a smile appear on Farfarello´s pale lips just before he hit the ground with a loud thud_. `Shit! No sense trying to talk to him when he's in that mood!´ Using his gift he'd already seen the albino's next action. _

So, instead of waiting for Farfarello to stand up and react to his words or start a new attack, the dark-haired teen turned around and bolted in the opposite direction.

"YIYIYIYIYI!!!"

Crawford cursed under his breath at hearing the Irish's battle yell right behind him. Farfarello seemed to be really excited about this turn of events. 

Normally Crawford wouldn't be all too concerned about this. With his knowledge of his opponent's actions and his superior strength, he was normally able to defeat the albino in no time at all. Normally, but not while sticking in the body of a fifteen year old boy!

Though he'd landed a direct hit, Farfarello hadn't even bothered to catch his fall. Once again Bradley Crawford realized how vulnerable he was in this state. Of course he was still well-trained, but that was nothing compared to his old strength.

 A slight teen was simply no opponent to a full-grown man, no matter how fit he was. 

Crawford's whole fighting skills were based on his strength paired with the use of his gift and his quick reactions to it. With one of these factors down, he'd have to rise the use of the other two up high, if he'd ever want to have a chance in a fight.

Spurred on like that, Crawford heightened his speed once more, setting all of his efforts into getting more distance between him and Farfarello. To his concern he only managed to keep it stable. 

_´Ofuckofuckofuckofuckofuck!´ Bolting between surprised pedestrians, a vision showed him just in time that the crazy Irishman hadn't lost any of his knife collection. Quickly diving to the side, he barely evaded the dreadful missiles. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to keep this speed up any longer or win this race, Crawford decided for an act of sheer desperation._

Without looking he suddenly made a hook to the right, right onto the street. Evading screeching cars, Crawford crossed it, always having an eye back to see if Farfarello was trying to follow him. 

That short momentum was nearly enough to kill him. One moment the street in front of him was empty, the next second a car was speeding at him.

"HEY! CHIBI! WATCH OUT!!"

A coarse hand grabbed him and hauled him out of danger. Staring wide-eyed after the nearly deadly car, Crawford noticed half-heartedly that his rescuer was nobody else than Youji. A wet nuzzle touching his hand indicated that Teddy was also there. 

Not taking care of any of them, Crawford searched the other side of the streets for any signs of Farfarello. There weren't any. He wasn't there anymore.  Unconsciously he let out his breath. _´That was close.´ Far too close for his liking, though Crawford wasn't sure if he should be really grateful for the psycho's renewed disappearance. _

"….kid! Hey! Are you listening? Helloo, earth to Brad!" "Huh?" Crawford blinked in surprise. He'd been too busy with Farfarello to pay any attention to the blonde. 

Yohji gave him a beaten look. "Yeah, I know. I like you too." The bewilderment in those amber-brown eyes grew. "Pardon?" Seeing this Yohji chuckled in this lazy manner of his, relaxing from the shock he'd gotten at seeing Brad not only in middle of the street but also direct in front of an oncoming car. "I was just wondering of what you were doing there? An     off-beat sort of suicide? Sorry to ya, but being hit from a car while crossing the street isn't that unusual." He sighed. "Honestly, just what the hell where you thinking? Running on the street like that!"

Brad blinked thoughtfully at him. "I ran into Farfarello." "You WHAT?!" Yohji had to take just one look at him to believe him. The boy was still panting and altogether in a disheveled shape. Some parts of his clothes were dirtied as if he'd been knocked to the ground and the way he kept scanning their surroundings with a searching look, and his whole body-speech at all indicated that it hadn't been an all too casual meeting. Brad had definitely been chased.

Finally catching his breath, Brad started to explain. "I was outside with Aya when I thought that I had seen someone I knew and ran after that person. At that I ran into him." The teen hesitated for a moment. "When I noticed that I couldn't get him from my heels, I tried to get over the street, hoping…" He gestured with his hands in a helpless manner, not ending the sentence. "I didn't notice the car." 

Yohji nodded dazedly. "I noticed that. You sure it was Berserk? Only one eye, many scars, bright hair..?" Brad nodded "And many knifes. Positively."  

Yohji scanned the area quickly before he continued speaking. "I don't see anyone." "I know. But he was not even two meters behind me when I reached the street." Following his example, Brad had also started to look around nervously.

Unnoticed, Yohji took a closer look on Brad. Though he was out of breath and dirtied he was physically totally fine. _´Not even a scratch…That's more luck than a normal mortal could hope for after running into Farfarello…´ Yohji froze for a moment. __´Hey…´ Taking a second look at the boy next to him, green eyes narrowed with suspicion. The expression vanished before Brad could notice it, though. _

Giving him a reassuring grin, Yohji slapped him playfully on his back. "Ne, what counts is that you're still alive, doesn't it?" He smiled at him. "By the way, you're really lucky that I had Teddy with me. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have noticed you in time. You're really lucky that she likes you so much." 

He laughed at the sight of the dog that was now desperately trying to get Brad's attention. "Whoa! Hey." Teddy had kept burying her nuzzle into Brads open palm and leaning against him like a cat would. Unfortunately she was quite a big dog and no small cat, and so she'd nearly managed to shove the slim boy on the street again. Catching Brad again, the tall playboy laughed. "She really likes you. I'd wish that my dates would also be so passionate."

Brad directed a 'that's-not-funny-at-all' glare at him, when suddenly somebody shouted.

"Brad!"

Turning, they saw a worried looking redhead running to them. "Aya!" Yohji immediately noticed the worried, no, nearly scared look on the other's face. Seeing them, it changed places with a half relieved- and a half-angry one. Aya himself wasn't sure why he was angry that Brad was with Yohji instead of being happy that he wasn't hurt. 

Reaching them he immediately placed a hand on Brad's shoulder, the same time examining the boy quickly for any visible injuries. Finding none he breathed out in relief. He wasn't certainly sure, but he'd thought he saw Farfarello for an inch of a moment while he was frantically searching for Brad. 

Yohji watched the redhead's actions with mild surprise. _´Since when's Aya that sociable?´ He'd touched the teen without hesitation. Where was the touch-me-and-I'll-bite-your-hand-off icicle of their leader? A sly grin appeared on his lips. Brad was definitely someone out of the ordinary. _

"Really sorry to interfere your happy reunion Aya, but the chibi here's saying that he was chased by Berserk." Aya´s face grew immediately cold at that. _´So I was right after all.´ Giving their surroundings a quick glance, he asked, "Yohji, where were you going? You were supposed to be with the others. And you also still have work in the shop to do." The other man flinched at that. __´Shit! He's noticed.´ Giving the redhead a charming smile, he answered "I was. But then Teddy's owner called and said that she's already back, asking if I could bring her back to her and so I'm here, right in time to prevent Brad from getting under some cars wheels." He gave Aya a confident look, hoping that he wouldn't probe any further._

"Under some car wheels?" Aya rose a fine eyebrow at that. Shooting Brad an inquiring look he decided that Farfarello was right now the more important matter at hand. The other members of Schwarz never let the psychopath for too long out of their eyes. 

Declaring that topic with a ´hn´ for ended, he turned his famous glare at Yohji. "You're bringing Brad out of danger, I'll take care of Berserk." 

"Yes, sir! Come on you two." Yohji grinned, saluting in a mock manner, though his grin had a forced tone in it. Taking both, dog and kid with him, he left in a quick pace.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

A single golden eye watched Balinese's retreat, noting that he was taking Crawford with him.

Oh, of course Farf had recognized him. But the hunt had been just too funny to stop it just ´cause the one he was hunting was his superior. Hunting a prey that was even fighting back properly was really funny, though not as funny as playing with the Weiß kitten. 

Chuckling lowly the Irishman wondered if Weiß knew whom they were helping right now. _´Probably not.´ If they'd know they'd treat Crawford differently._

Deciding to keep an eye on them, Farfarello melted into the shadows again.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

/Peep….Peep….Pee-Click/

"Sammy, ma-"

The man paused, clapped his hand over the phone and held the little device as far away from him as possible. " …huit….neuf….dix."

 Taking a deep breath and hoping that the female on the other side of the line had calmed down by now, he help the phone to his ear again.

/…SO LISTEN, YOU LITTLE RUNT! IF-/

He quickly held it away again. 

After waiting for another couple of minutes, he dared a new try.

/SAMANTHA TANNIN!!/

/…Jilocasin?/

Relaxing a bit the man held the phone the right way again. Calling this woman was getting perilous lately.

/Oui. Calmed down, ma chere?/

A light chuckle was heard on the other side of the connection.

/Now, yes. God, Jil I'm that happy that it's you who's calling./

The French telepath frowned. 

/Is le Schwarz still at it?/

Tannin laughed openly. /Still at it? The phone's practically always ringing. God knows I've tried everything. I've even changed my number for the fourth time. And that within a week! Jil, please be nice and tell me that he has finally arrived. Waiting´s so boring./

A chuckle. /Ah, don't your new friend's steady calls entertain you enough?/ Tannin snorted at that question. /I still don't see why we had to wait for him. I already know where he hides./

/Well, the better for us. Now we can finish this off quickly and go back on vacation./

Tannin laughed again. /Oh no, my French friend. You already had your fun, now's my turn. -And I want to make this slow./

Jilocasin sighed. _´Women…´ _

/Come on Jil. You had to bring the whole team with you and I waited. You owe me one./

/…As you wish. Make it as you wish, ma chere. I wont interfere./

In her pent suite Tannin grinned. /Very well then. I'll call you and tell you how it went later. Bye darling./

And with that she ended the connection. Tossing her mobile phone carelessly at the couch she stood up, a cruel smile playing around her lips. 

"So Bradley Crawford from Schwarz. Time to play."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Wow."

Yohji stared in perplex fascination as Brad practiced the art of fast food in front of his eyes.

Instead of returning to the Koneko right after their parting with Aya, he'd led them to a totally different route, first stopping by at Teddy's owner (female, hot curves, e.g.,…´`´`*) and then stopping at some fast-food restaurant for lunch. As thoughtless as this seemed, it still wasn't. Yohji disliked the idea of leading Farfarello directly to their home as much as Aya, and besides he wanted to speak with the American alone.

Finishing the last bits of his meal, Brad gave him a questioning look. "What?" Grinning, Yohji waved his hand. "Nothing. Just that I know now why it's called ´fast´-food." Brad looked from the polished plate to the grinning blonde. "I haven't eaten anything since yesterday evening. I'm hungry."

Yohji laughed. "Of course, chibi. Didn't mean to criticize you." Giving him a ´look´ Brad sighed. "And?" Yohji blinked innocently. "And what?"  Brad scowled at him. "You know perfectly well what. Why did you bring me here instead to the shop? You wanted to speak about something with me, right?"

Still smiling Yohji nodded grinning. "Exactly. To make up for my disgrace yesterday, I've decided to find out something about our dear unknown beauty." Crawford nodded sternly, signalizing the taller man to continue. Giving him a lazy smile, Yohji went on. "Sooo…it was actually pretty easy. One just has to know whom to ask."

"Her name is Sammy Tannin, early twenties, a gaijin though I couldn't find out from exactly where she is. She seems to have a special liking for first -class hotels and luxury in general. Noticeable is also that she has changed hotels about every second day since her stay in Japan." Yohji paused for a breath. "She showed up first time for about a week ago, goes never two times to the same club and wears always long-sleeved clothes. From her appearance we're looking for a tall woman, approx 5,9 foot, with blond hair at shoulder-length and blue eyes."  

Giving Crawford a grin, the blonde asked "Also want to know her sizes? I could tell you from her favorite drink till her preferences in men." Crawford blinked impressed. "And you really found all that out in such a short time?" Yohji laughed again. "I told you. You just have to know whom to ask. Anything that's sounding familiar to you?" Crawford shook his head. "Sadly no."

Yohji shrugged nonchalantly. "Never mind. I just figured that it was worth the try." He paused and considered the boy's reaction. He'd kept an eye on Brad the whole time he was telling and was sure now. _´Then let's see if my track was right.´ Presenting Brad his best charming smile, he asked "Hey Brad. Care to explain something to me?" The dark-haired teen looked up from where he'd been busying himself with his drink. "Sure. What do you want to know?" Yohji´s smile got a sly edge. _

"How did you know that Berserk's real name's Farfarello?"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Aya cursed. He'd been searching the whole street for Farfarello and had found nothing more than some tracks of a brawl and some tracks of the use of knifes. 

For Abyssinian it was more than enough evidence that Brad was telling the truth. Farfarello had been here.

 But he wasn't anymore.

Worried for the teen's safety Aya had rushed back to the shop just to find out that neither Brad nor Yohji had arrived there. 

Seething with anger he'd dropped the surprised Omi a brief explanation (about two short sentences), before rushing off again to search them. 

_´Yohji no baka! He probably went to that stupid woman! He knows just exactly well how dangerous Farfarello can be!! Endangering Brad like that!´ He growled slightly, increasing his speed. _

Doing something like that seemed just exactly like something for the careless playboy to do. Farfarello was strong -or rather insane- enough to take it up with two of them at the same time. If they'd ran into him…Aya didn't want to imagine which sort of consequences that could possibly lead to.

Speeding down the street the redhead tried frantically to remember that woman's address. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Brad's amber-brown eyes widened in shock at that question.

Yohji´s grin widened. _`Knew it! Got you, chibi.´_

Crawford stared disbelieving at the grinning playboy. Damn! Did he really make such a stupid mistake?! He'd successfully managed to fool Weiß the whole time without raising any suspicions and such a foolish slip of tongue broke his neck now? Crawford nearly laughed out loudly at that. God, he'd even practically told Aya about his true identity and nothing had happened! And now Yohji caught him due to Farfarello.

Managing his calm Crawford answered Yohji´s stare with an even one. He'd nothing to lose after all. 

Flashing him a grin that reminded Crawford of Schuldig´s, the lanky blonde drawled. 

"Well?"

But before Crawford had any time to form a fitting retort his opposite suddenly blanched. The reason seemed to be somewhere behind Crawford. "O shit!" The now as-pale-as-a-sheet Yohji quickly dove under the desk. 

Crawford rose an eyebrow at such a silly action. Curious of what had triggered it, he turned around to see a redhead woman, clad in red, advance them. 

Crawford frowned at her. Her red hair was curled and about shoulder-length, the clothes all business like and her green eyes held a firm expression in them. It remembered a bit on Aya´s Shi-ne! glare. The frown deepened. _´I'm sure that I have seen her before. But where?´ He looked again at her. Then he remembered. Wasn't she one of Kritiker's agents who always brought those missions to Weiß? _

The woman had reached their table by now. Bending down, she purred "Hello Yohji." The purr held a velvet edge in it, promising major problems if the culprit wouldn't do as wished.

Yohji sweatdropped. Quickly returning to his seat, he put a charming smile on his lips. "Manx, darling, is that really you? And I thought that some super model had lost her way to the catwalk." Manx didn't even react at that lame try. 

"The others were searching for you after you didn't return. Omi called me." And, directing her attention at Brad, "Is that the boy?" Yohji nodded smiling. "Yep, that's Brad."

Manx looked the slight teen in front of her up and down, before smiling and shaking his hand. "Hello Brad. I am Manx." And directed to Yohji, she added "You were right. He really resembles him a lot."

_´… This is getting old.´_

Crawford was examining the shop when suddenly something caught his eye. _´That woman-´ "Brad…?" Yohji had stopped from whatever conversation he´d been deepened in with Manx and was now giving him an inquisitive look. Manx also noticed. "What´s so interesting over there?" Brad frowned, not letting the female out of sight for a second. "That woman there… Isn't that a gun she's holding?"_

"What?" 

The same moment Yohji asked, a shot rang. For a second everyone stared mortified at the corpse of a former security men. The woman who'd shot cleaned her gun casually. "So much to everybody who's trying to get my gun." Her velvet purr was drowned out by the screams of the fleeing people. 

Carelessly she snagged a young girl out of the panicked crowd and pressed the gun at her head. Staring directly at the only still seated people, she grinned. 

"Hi there. Weiß, right?"

Yohji nodded grimly. They waited until all people were out of the restaurant before they stood up. The woman smiled sweetly. "Ah, good. I wasn't sure and didn't want to approach you in front of all those people…" "…so you simply killed him." She blinked surprised. "Of course. How else would I've gotten all those annoying people away that fast?" 

Dragging the whimpering girl with her she took a seat.  

"Finally some space for oneself. Less crowded it's so much more comfortable, don't you think so Bradley?"

Gritting his teeth Yohji placed himself quickly protectively in front of Crawford. "Leave Brad out of it!" The woman chuckled. "My, my, my. And that when he's the whole reason why I´m here." Her smile grew malicious. "No."

Suddenly the sound of a released safety catch was heard. Aiming her own gun firmly at the woman's head, Manx ordered "Alright, let the girl go. Now."

The woman chuckled again. "No." Yohji growled. "She hasn't done anything. If you want us, try your luck. But harm her or Brad and I swear I'll kill you!" 

The woman laughed openly at him. "How cute! A knight in shining amour, protecting the helpless. Hahaha! And the dutiful secretary, loyal even over death. Ahahaha hahaha! Where did you get them from Braddy, they're really good!" She smirked. "And there I was thinking that your other team was a strange one!"

Crawford growled from where he was behind Yohji. He didn't like her reaction at all. _´She's up to something.´ Stepping back from Yohji, he examined her for the first time. She was tall, definitely no Asian, and wore a long-sleeved midnight blue velvet top accordingly with a matching black lip-skirt. Her shoulder-length platinum blond hair was made up into a ponytail and her cold grayish blue-green eyes shone in a way Crawford immediately recognized as a killer's. _

She smiled charmingly at the tall blonde. "You're Yohji, right? We met at the shop. Though I really don't know who you are, my dear. Birman or Manx?"

Yohji just glared at her. "The girl, woman." Acting totally unfazed, she shrugged her shoulder and turned to Crawford. "Not very polite friends you have there. But at least I´m sure with you, Mister big C." 

She chuckled. "Do they know?" Crawford shook his head. That made her laugh even more. "Ahahaha. That's good! That's really good!" Calming down a bit, she added "But where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself yet. With your permission, Sammy Tannin."

Pouting at their lack of reaction, Tannin asked. "Not even one of you surprised? What a pity. And there I wanted to make a big entrance. Was a complete flop, huh?"

She sighed. 

Directing a perilous stare at Brad she smirked again. "Not a talkative one, are we?" A move of her gun made the girl renew whimpering. "Or are you just afraid to speak in front of witnesses?" A brutal jerk on her hair silenced the girl abruptly. By now Yohji had a hard time holding onto himself to not simply charge at her. Just the knowledge that the girl would then be killed for sure was still holding him back. Tannin laughed coldly. "Wouldn't have expected you to be that shy." She smirked again, now openly showing her malicious nature. "More the sort of the cold, calculating, treacherous bastard."

Taking note of the seething Yohji and the not less angry, but much more controlled Manx, a feral grin spread over her face. Giggling she noted. "Oww, now I made the little kittens angry." Standing up she jerked her helpless victim with her. Turning her attention at Youji, she asked, still with that predatory gleam in her eyes.

"So you want me to release her?"

The blonde nodded before Manx could warn him. Tannin's smile widened.

"As you wish."

She released her hold on the girl and shot the panicked female in the back. "Now we can speak openly." Crawford looked at the bloody mess. _´That was that. So much to be expected.´ Silently he watched as the attacking Yohji was thrown back and slammed against the opposite wall by an invisible force before he was even able to unwrap his wire properly. Manx hadn't any more luck. The bullets she'd fired were swarming around the blonde woman like a swarm of angry killer bees. Then, like a charging swarm, they changed their direction and raced back at Manx._

Though she reacted fast, the curly redhead didn't manage to evade all of them. Getting hit squarely into her stomach she got hurled back, crashing into some tables. A quick telekinetic jerk finally rendered her unconscious. Yohji hadn't stood up from where he'd landed.

Brushing a lock of platinum blond hair back, Tannin smirked.

"Foolish."

Finally turning to the unmoved boy, her smirk widened. "And now to you, Mister Crawford." An unseen force swept Crawford from his feet and slammed him against the wall, holding him there. The dark-haired leader of Schwarz winced shortly at the pain from the impact, but otherwise remained stoic. 

Tannin rose a fine trimmed eyebrow. "Hm? Not impressed at all? And there I was working so hard to prevent you from meeting up with the rest of Schwarz. I even lured that German telepath of yours all the way to Germany." The caught precog just directed a cold glare at her. 

At the lack of reaction Tannin's smirk faded into a look of disappointment. Stepping up to him, she traced her fingers over his chin line. Leaning closer, she purred "Come on, that was a good job I've done, wasn't it?"

Crawford didn't deign her an answer. Her expression changed into one of barely repressed anger. "Hmpf. You're really less fun as said." She shook her head with a sigh. "What else could one expect from a seer?" 

Crawford simply stared right through her, not giving any hint of acknowledging her presence. That rose her anger even more. Keeping to himself that he'd already had the ´joy´ of meeting Farfarello again, Crawford decided to play along. "Alright, if it's making you happy. What have you done to them?" Not catching the sarcastic tone in his voice, Tannin started chuckling again. Forcing him to look right into her eyes, she smirked. "Worried about your team-mates health? You don't have to. Nothing compared to what we're gonna do to you."

Crawford blinked surprised. Finally he realized what was disturbing him that much of her from the first moment on. That oh so scary sniper was- 

"You're-"

A brutal slap cut him off. Tannin's grey-blue eyes were now blazing with anger. "How dare you, you lousy little freak!?" Her hiss got emphasized with an even more brutal backhand, which made Crawford's head ring. 

Stepping back, the pale blond woman produced a loaded syringe from on of her pockets. Gritting her teeth's, she smirked again while readying it. This time it was much more uglier. "You're really a bad little oracle. But I have ways to deal with that, don't worry. I've already broken far more stubborn persons than a simple future teller who just happened along." 

Immobilizing the boy with a force that made his bones ache, she pushed his sleeve up and injected him the full dose. Then she released her telekinetic grip on him, satisfied, watching him fall to the ground. However, before she came to do anything else a, wire was draped around her neck, snatching her forcefully back and away from the fragile teen.

Gagging she directed a death glare at the blonde behind her. "You!! You were supposed to stay down for at least another two hours!" Tightening his grip, Yohji snorted. "Sorry for ruining your little plans. Tell me what you've given him! Now!" With each sentence the blonde tightened the wire-loop more, making the caught woman choke.

Through her constricted position the telekinetic managed a hooked smirk. "Done*choke*? *cough, cough* Just gave him some tranquilizers. *gasp* Can't have him trashing around, can we?"

Growling Yohji tugged hardly. Though Tannin was already starting to turn blue, she still remained smirking. Directing her question at Crawford, she leered "O poor one! Having problems with staying at your feet, Crawford-darling?" Evidently he was. Having to lean heavily against the wall, the precognitive answered her grin. "Comes from having to listen to your senseless ramblings that long."

Tannin blinked in surprise and burst then out laughing. "Really good! You're having courage lil´one. I like that. So I´m boring you? Then I guess it's time to end this match." And with that Yohji´s wire around her throat snapped in two. 

Turning to the shocked playboy, she said lightly "Sorry, but you lost." Jade green eyes widened as Yohji felt himself swept from his feet by an invisible force. 

_´Crawford?!´_

Hitting the wall, his consciousness faded into blackness.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Regarding the fallen blonde with a remorseful look, the blonde telekinetic sighed. "Pity ´bout him. He was quite entertaining."

She flashed a grin at Crawford, who'd fallen to his knees by now. Raising an eyebrow, she remarked "You're putting up a good fight against those drugs." A pause. "I´m impressed."

Finally losing against the upcoming daze in his head, Crawford dropped to the ground.

"But you lost the game none the less." 

She grinned. "How's it said? Rien ne va plus." 

"Oi! Curly head!!" She shook the passed out redhead woman awake. "Since I've won this match I'll take the boy with me." A mobile phone landed clattering in front of the hurt woman. "Call the rest of Weiß if you're wanting a return match." Giving Manx a last smug smile, she turned to leave the former shop (and now devastated battlefield).

"So then…I'll be waiting for you."

With her last strength Manx took the phone and started dialing the number.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

From the other side of the street Farfarello had watched the whole event. The woman had killed an innocent, which was good ´cause it hurt god, but now she was taking child-Brad, as Farf had titled him, with her. 

Unsure of what to do, Farfarello decided on keeping his one eye on them.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter 10

Picaro: ^_^* Helloo minna! I'm back again, still kickin´ and you've reached the end of this chapter! Still there? Good! As always, reviews are more then welcomed, point's for criticism acknowledged and worked on. (If I feel like it. ´`.´`*) And flames will be used as cat-food!^_^ 

Gee, so many nice people have reviewed the last chapter. Arigatou minna! *tries to bow happily and bunks her head against the table*  Ouch! Not again! *Note: not the first and for sure not the last time that's happening*  newtypeshadow, Yami no Tenshi, Kar-chan, Snickerdoodle, Blume, pink bunny, BlackWind, Maxine, Kyra, Red queen of spades, S.Wing, Green Jello, yue, Rei Eien and Ryuke. 

Special notes: Absolutely great thanks to Ryuke-chan for beta-reading. You're great!!^ ^

Rei Eien- Could you please mail me ´bout that? I've tried to answer you, but somehow it seems like I'm too clumsy to find your address. ^_^* 

By the way, I had to change my address due the _a certain someone, I wont name here_ who'd accidentally erased my former e-mail address. ^.^**


	11. 11 Catnamed assassins and sprinkler sys...

Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own them. I´m just the crazy nut who owns the idea for this story and the OC´s. Not that that's something to be proud of…^_~

What he certainly hadn't planned

Chapter 11

When Crawford awoke the next time, it was already dark outside. He himself was tied onto a bed in what seemed to be a first-class hotel suite. On one side of the room was the wall replaced with big, view-windows that were, of course, unable of being opened. 

Right now, they were showing the rejuvenated oracle a breathtaking view of the city's lights far under them. The whole room was overflowing with all sorts of luxury, from the soft, in itself  comfortable bed and silk sheets under him till the decorations and paintings on the wall. His catcher was nowhere to be seen though the soft rippling of water could be heard.

According to the sound somebody was taking a shower. Crawford twisted a bit, hoping to somehow loosen his shackles. It wasn't working. After a bit more twisting Crawford could see why. _´Damnit! She used handcuffs.´ Repeating the whole procedure with his feet Crawford knew that she'd also used handcuffs for his fetters. _

Due to his (current) lack of height and the wide size of the bed, Tannin had had to chain several handcuffs together to get about the right length. Realizing this awkward fact Crawford's cheeks turned pink for the tiniest inch of a second. Then his expression darkened into a dark glare. _´If I'd be in my right size, I would've never allowed anything like that to happen! At least I can move my legs a bit that way.´ That was right. Due to the slight exceptional length his provisional fetters were loose enough for him to draw his knees up a bit._

_´Wonder how she got all these things? After all it's not like any normal person would carry some replacement handcuffs with her.´ Crawford blinked. __´What the fu…?!´ Why should he care if the woman was traveling with a trunk full of handcuffs, or not!? Fact was that they were there, restricting him onto that bed, and that was what counted! Reprimanding himself for musing over such silly things, Crawford directed his thoughts back at the matter at hand. _

He was caught, more or less unable to move, and still quite groggy from whatever stuff Tannin had been injecting him. _´There's nothing I can do… __Great. I'm totally at her mercy.´ Forcing himself to stay calm, Crawford waited for his attendant to show herself. _

One minute passed. 

Then a second one.

Two minutes turned into ten.

Crawford yawned.

The left behind haziness in his head started to make itself felt. Yawning again, Crawford wondered if Tannin had maybe drowned in her shower. He considered the possibility of shouting to draw her attention. Then he considered the possibility of falling asleep again.

Just as Crawford was about to change over to the realm of dreams, an overly genki voice shouted. "Oh! You're finally awake!!" Crawford groaned. Though it was meant as an exclamation, Tannin had literally shouted it. 

Turning his head, Crawford frowned at the approaching woman. She definitely looked different now. For example she was just wearing an oversized towel. Her damp, platinum hair was now openly hanging over her shoulders. But the most outstanding thing on her was the tattoo that nearly covered all of her body. Noticing his looks, Tannin giggled in a girlish manner. Turning around once, she flashed him a beaming smile before plopping down on the bed next to him.

"Like what you see?" 

Crawford blinked in amazement. "Your tattoo…"

She leaned closer. "Yes?"

"It's… wow."

That was no understatement. From what Crawford could make out, the fine-drawn lines of the tattoo were running from her wrists until her ankles. And that was just what he could see with the towel. Tannin laughed happily. "Yeah, isn't it? The great master J. Koyasuni made it. His last work before he died." 

"Koyasuni?"

The pale blond woman smiled happily. "Yeah. He was doubtless the master of this line of business! For his works are prices paid which were going far beyond the seven-digit. In US dollar of course." She stroked one stubborn strand of hair out of his face, her grin becoming seductive. "Wanna see all of it?"

Not waiting for an answer she jumped up and started tampering around with the knot of her towel. Crawford sweatdropped. What was that now again? Was she having a split mentally or what was going on? The dark-haired teen could just come up with only two possibilities. _´I hope that it's the latter one.´_

"Ow…what the fuck…? ……..Oh, blast that stupid thing!!" Having lost her battle with the knot, Tannin ripped her towel off with a telekinetic blast, not only shredding the towel in the process but also the wall and the furniture behind it. Crawford's sweatdrop grew.

Seeing the havoc she'd wreaked, she also sweatdropped. "Ah… well. I wanted to change the decoration anyway." She smiled rather unconvincingly. 

"…Anyway. How do ya like it?" 

She posed in front of the bed so that her victim could see her.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Aya was pissed.

Aya was a hell of pissed. Already two hours had passed since Manx's call, and they still had no clue where that bitch and Brad were. If Yohji didn't already have to be taken with Manx to one of Kritiker's hospitals Aya would've helped him to this with great pleasure. 

That idiot just had to run to that woman! And does he come back right away? Nooo, mister playboy no baka just HAD to stop for lunch!! Aya turned and started another round. "Still nothing?"

Omi gulped at that question. Shrinking down in his seat, he piped. "No. " Violet eyes flashed for a moment at him. "Continue" The young blonde started sweating. "Hai." Since that fateful call from Manx Aya had been acting strange. Not simply strange, but strange in the way of a pissed tiger. A very extremely pissed tiger. He'd even started pacing back and forth like one. 

Briefly he wondered if the redhead would jump at him and try to bite him if he wouldn't find anything of interest. 

Luckily Ken chose just exactly that moment to come the stairs down in a rush. "Birman just called. They're out of danger. No too serious wounds." Looking up from the screen for a short moment, Omi smiled at the excited brunette. "That's great Ken-kun." "Yeah, isn't it?" Ken smiled back. "Manx was lucky. The bullet she got was dangerously near some vital parts." "And Yohji-kun?" Ken frowned. "Less lucky. Many contusions and his right arm got dislocated. He hasn't woken up by now, but he won't be able to return in time to help us with this one for sure."

Omi nodded. "That's bad. Manx said that that woman was a telekinetic. We need any help we can get." Ken nodded in agreement. "Seems so." 

"Omi…the research."

That brief command made the teen snap back to his computer. "Hai!" Ken stared surprised at the scowling redhead, trying to suppress a shudder. 

"Yohji got pretty lucky that he's already in hospital." 

"U-huh."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The tattoo was truly a masterpiece of art. Showing a dragon in autumnal colors, it was grazing nearly her whole body. The dragon was wrapping itself around her like an affectionate lover, embracing the female body in a tender hug, its unfurled wings curling from her shoulder blades until her wrists. The front paws (claws) were covering her breasts, the crossed claws reaching from her ribcage until her lower belly, while the hind feet and tail were running from her hips curling around her feet's until they reached her ankles.

But the most impressing thing on it was its head. The long reptile neck wound from the back over the left shoulder down to the area of her breastbone where a massive fanged head was resting. The whole picture had such an intense body language in it that one was inclined to believe that it was a real bestial lover that had melted with its beloved's skin.

Tannin grinned. "Impressive, huh? It's covering about ninety percent of my skin including some rather intimate regions." 

Carelessly rearranging her underwear, she stepped closer again. "The climax of Koyasuni´s work at the peak of his power… His last, hidden masterpiece, the Voivre. La vipera, the serpent, the invincible dragon, unique, even to it's own race. Do you know its story?" 

Crawford blinked. He definitely did not like this woman's behavior. "So it was you who'd sent those messages." Tannin laughed. "Of course it was me! Who else would call himself Voivre if not the one who's wearing it?" Sitting down again, she sighed, touching the imprinted dragonhead in a caressing manner. "The blind dragon Voivre…It used a giant ruby as an eye. Living in the mountains of France it kept terrorizing people for over centuries. It was a giant dragon, ya know? Twice as strong and clever as anybody else, it was invulnerable to any attacks. Just once every year it could be harmed, when it took the ruby out of its head for taking a bath… If a peasant would be brave enough to steal the ruby then, the Voivre would've been doomed to death and the region would've been freed." 

She chuckled lightly. "But nobody ever had the courage to do it. Nobody. And so the Voivre kept killing and killing for many, many centuries." Laughing again she leaned over the chained Crawford. "And that's the end of the story. Koyasuni thought it was fitting me… What do you think?" Squirming a bit under her weight, Crawford evaded. "I really don't think that I'm the right one to judge about this." 

Tannin laughed again, running a hand under his shirt. "I don't meet many people who know how to appreciate its beauty and the work behind it. You're one of them." Starting to run small circles over his stomach, she sighed. "Too bad that I'm gonna have to kill ya. We could've had some fun together." 

Frowning, she stopped for a moment. "But when I'm thinking ´bout it now… Why not? There's nothing what could keep us from having at least a bit of fun right now." Crawford gave her a shocked look. _´What the-?´ Tannin gave him a seductive grin. "It wouldn't be anything pervert, ya know? After all you're rightly even a bit older than me. And also you're resembling Koyasuni a bit." _

And with that she started to undress him. Well, she tried to. But with having Crawford struggling under her it wasn't exactly that easy. Finally having managed to get at least his shirt up to his neck, Tannin faced a new problem. "These handcuffs…" There was no way she'd be able to get the shirt off with those handcuffs on his hands. Cursing she got up and started searching for the keys.

"Fuck! Where're these in three gods names damned, blasted, fuck off keys?!"

Crawford watched her searching. That whole situation was certainly nothing he'd ever dreamt of being possible. "I can't find them!" He decided that it wouldn't be very clever to remind her about her telekinetic abilities right now. /BANG/ The wall got another ´redecoration´. Having cooled her temper a bit, Tannin returned to her pitiable victim. She shrugged. "Was just a joke anyway. I favor men who're taller than me." Crawford raised an eyebrow. _´Either she's the best actor I've ever seen or she's totally drunk.´ Tannin giggled. "Do you understand? Taller!"_

_´…Definitely drunk´. _

"Hm? What's up?" Crawford frowned at her. "You're drunk." She started laughing again. "Too~tally sloshed." "You were already drunk when you attacked first." "Just a tiny bit.^^" 

Seeing his dark face _´I'm not being taken serious at all!´ she pouted a bit at him. "Oh, come on! I waited a whole freakin´ week for some idiot to return from Europe! I was bored!" She stopped, frowning a bit. "Besides, this hotel has a really excellent assortment." She started giggling again. _

_´Fantastic. I'm caught with a plastered telekinetic in the same room and can't even move properly.´ And to add to it, his head had started ringing. When Tannin had finally recovered from her laughing fit, she smirked. "I'm always talkin´ too much when I'm drunk. Where were we before this little distraction?" The fragile teen shot her a doubtful look. "You were about to tell me the reason for all of this?" She blinked confused. "The reason?"_

"Yeah, the reason. Why you've kidnapped me." She doubled over with laughter again, howling "KID-napped!! Ahahaha!" Crawford's frown deepened into a glare. Mentally sighing, he thought. _´What for nice prospects…´_

If this was keeping on he'd favor being tortured.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Farfarello eyed the dark building calmly. _´That's the hotel she'd brought him in.´_

Deciding that it was definitely too quiet for his taste, Schwarz's berserk went into action.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Back in the hotel suite, Tannin finally managed to get a hold onto herself. "Nosy, huh?" Crawford's face remained blank, as he returned her look expressionless. "Just started wondering about who hates me enough to go through that much fuss to get me into his hands." A cruel smirk spread over the woman's face at that. She cooed the next question practically. "What's telling you that it's a ´him´? As far as I know, it could be a woman as well. Me, for example."

Slightly snorting in the back of his throat, the teen that was the leader of one of the most feared assassin groups gave her a look which read ´Oh, please!´. Not showing his annoyance, Crawford stated. "I try to avoid getting into quarrels with females." A blonde eyebrow raised at that. "Really? That's something new to hear. Why not?" "I prefer a clean kill to waiting for them to scheme something which wouldn't work anyway. Normally I end such arguments right now and constantly."

Tannin grimaced at that, getting what he was insinuating. "Aa. There we're sharing the same opinion. Though that also counts for the males, if you ask me." 

Crawford inclined his head. "Of course. And to your question: Just somebody high in rank could afford to send you _and_ somebody else after me. Due to the fact that I'm still alive I take it that your instructions are not to kill me. So?" "So?" Tannin laughed, though there was no hint of amusement in it anymore. "It seems like you already know everything of interest. What else to tell?" 

Despite the uncomfortable position he had to take while talking with the telekinetic, Crawford smirked at her. "A name would be good." Inwardly he cringed at the biting pain in his joints and the fact that his vision kept blurring, going back to normal and blurring again was also not reassuring him at all, but he'd rather die than to show any of this to that woman. 

On the other side, Tannin was also not happy at all with this situation. Where this man-turned-boy should be squirming, panicking or whimpering like all her other victims before, this one wasn't. Actually he was looking quite smug and pleased with all of this. Tannin growled. If he'd at least try to look troubled or something…! But no, there he was, calmly questioning her out about her customer!! Not showing her frustration and ignoring the dire desire to test if he was even capable to feel pain, Tannin smirked again.

Giving Crawford a fake sorrowful look, the female sighed. "Sorrowfully that's the only thing I can't tell you. Our client likes his anonymity, ya know? And out of that it's really just some boring ol´ story." 

She sighed again, this time for real. Crawford noticed it. 

Walking through the room, Tannin said. "Once, a long, long time ago, there was a man, we may call him A. A was a nice underworld boss working for Estet until one day a bad group called Schwarz basked in and ruined all his little nasty plans. Seething for revenge, A called the best sniper he could afford (and he could afford much), and said to them "bring me the heads of Schwarz!". As pay they were promised a godly amount of money." 

Suddenly whirling around, Tannin grinned at Crawford. "But that wasn't all of it! ´bout a week after that, another Estet man, mister B, knocked on our door. His deal was that we could keep the money _and_ the rest of Schwarz, if we killed A and you. Trained psychics are good in worth, so we agreed. A was no problem. We fussed a bit with the translation of this old plate the elders of Estet made that strange ritual after and –looka there! – it was done." 

She grinned again, beaming happily. "Did you know that there was even written what you ought not to do at all circumstances? A real piece of cake! But when we couldn't find any of you in the ruins, we were quite at a loss. The deal would just work when we got your corpse too (you were wrong ´bout that, ya know?)."

Still grinning, she returned to the bed where Crawford was bound. " You can't imagine how happy I was when I heard that some of our henchmen had found you. Sadly those idiots lost you again and I had to dispose them."

Gingerly playing with a strand of his hair, she giggled. "I knew that the ritual was sumthin´ ´bout waking some god and getting eternal youth, but that…" She giggled again. "Never imagined that the big bad oracle was that cute." 

Crawford frowned at that comment, but kept silent. If he were right he still had a chance to get out of this mess in one piece. 

And then the sprinkler system went on.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The car's engine roared as the assassin known as Abyssinian slam-changed the gears, cutting the street corner in what could only be called a breakneck driving maneuver. 

"Whoa!!! Aya!! You're going to kill us before we've even arrived!!"

Instead of any sort of reply the redhead just floored the gas pedal, sending the Porsche speeding forward with a yank. Ken yelped in his place in the passenger seat and dug his nails into the padding, praying that it´d be over soon. Omi sat totally calmly in the backseat, though his bright blue eyes were unnaturally glassy and he was clenching his portable notebook as if his life was depending on it. He'd also every available safety belt fastened around him.

Not quite thirteen minutes after the computer genius of Weiß had located their enemy's residence, Aya´s Porsche came to a screeching hold right in front of the King's Hotel. 

A shaking brunette with half-extended bugnuks jumped out of the car as soon as it had stopped. Taking a swaying breath, Ken tried to get a hold onto his poor nerves again. A seemingly absolutely unfazed Aya emerged from the other side of the car, perfectly clothed in his full assassin gear and carrying his katana. Omi still sat frozen in the backseat. Slightly worried about his younger teammate, Ken tapped softly against the car's window. 

"Omi? It's over…" Jerking out of his trance, Omi jumped before directing an unsure glance at Siberian. Ken frowned at him, getting slightly worried. "Are you alright?" Still looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, Omi managed to give his worried teammate a reassuring smile. Well, at least he tried to make it look reassuring. "Hai."

Quickly following their leader they started advancing the hotel building. Their plan was quite simple. While Omi took care of the security systems and covering their retreat, Aya and Ken went in and rescued Brad. "Abysinnian! Chotto matte!" Omi had barely time to log in and undo the buildings security before the (a bit too) calm redhead stormed into the entrance hall. Not caring about the strange looks a black-clothed redhead carrying an ancient sword and a brunette with extended bugnuks would doubtlessly draw at them, he moved straightaway to the upper quarters. 

_´Gee…Aya´s really riled up ´bout this!´ Trying his best to follow Aya, Ken wondered slightly about the why. Sure, he also wasn't exactly happy about what happened to Brad, (more the opposite of it), but basking in like that… That was quite a dangerous thing to do, for both sides. And also it wasn't like Aya at all to take such a risk while somebody innocent still could be hurt. Ken grimaced. __´I just don't get this. ´ The only time he'd seen Aya like that was during their missions involving Takatori, when he'd tried to take revenge for his family. But he and Brad weren't any related to each other at all, so…?_

Then something else caught his eye. Though it was in the middle of the night, they should've met some people by now. He hadn't really minded that there hadn't been any receptionists or porters or what-did-he-know´s at all, but now it was getting disturbing. "Abyssinian, did you notice that…?"

Aya didn't even look back to the younger assassin. Keeping his pace, he answered. "There aren't any people. And the carpet's wet." "Huh?" Ken looked surprised down, just to find that the carpeted floor was really soaking wet. Through his heavy boots and musings about Aya´s unnatural behavior, he hadn't noticed it before. Not paying any attention to the slightly bewildered Siberian, Aya continued his way. Speaking into the mouth-piece of their com-link, he asked. "Bombay, in which room are they?" For a short moment the only thing answering him was static rustling, then a genki voice said. "They're in room number 758, a luxury suite. Abysinnian, Siberian, please take care of yourselves." Aya´s respond consisted of an affirmative sound. Behind him he could hear Ken whisper a "Don't worry." in a cheering way.

Blazing violet eyes narrowed in aversion. He'd show that woman what it meant to attack his friends and kidnap them, telekinetic or not! If she'd harmed Brad in any way…! Aya would make sure to make her pay twice. 

Readying his katana, he took his stand right next to the appointed door, flattening himself against the wall. Aya was furious – but that didn't mean that he was stupid enough to dash head first into the room, shouting 'Shi-ne!!' (Well, not with a telekinetic as target ^^*). 

Ken was the same. Both assassins knew too well that this special target was nothing to be underestimated. Silently creeping to the closed door, Ken tightened his grip on his bugnuks once again, extracting the metal claws to their fullest, before pushing the door open with a single, fast hit. 

Not waiting for their target's reaction he ducked into the room, ready for everything that was to come. 

Well, almost everything. There are certain things one simply can't be ready for.

"KYAAHH!!! PERVERTS!! GET OUTTA HERE!! I`M NOT WEARING ANYTHING!!"

/WLAMM!!/

The next thing Ken saw were many little dancing stars.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Otherwise Omi was busily checking the hotels security for any signs of the missing employees. Making sure that their presence wouldn't be noticed and choosing the best escape route, the young blonde frowned. 

_`Not one living soul is showing itself´ Omi was not liking this ´mission´ at all. __´It's all too much like a giant trap.´ He was sitting in the buildings little security office, using what little there was to it's fullest. Scanning all available sectors for a sign of life, he grimaced. __´Nothing.´ No sound, no visible trace of life, no forgotten things, not even the air seemed to move… __´As if the whole building is holding it's breath.´ _

Suddenly a soft sound got audible. Immediately concentrating all of his senses on it, Omi tried hastily to locate what it was. Maybe his friends were in danger… 

Then he heard to sound a second time. It was coming directly from the other side of the closed door in Omi´s back. His eyes going wide, Bombay froze. A short pause…There it was again. A soft sound, barely audile, and yet still of the quality which rose the little hairs at the back of his neck. The sound of nails passing over polished wood… Omi gulped. Hoping that who- or whatever it was wouldn't try to get into the room, he felt silently for his crossbow.

Minutes passed in stunned silence. Then a husky voice whispered "Here kitty, kitty….Come play.." Omi stared shocked at the door. Who´d-? _´Schwarz?!´ That voice had sounded like berserk's. With his crossbow and darts ready, Omi crept to the door. Opening it a bit, he readied himself for a battle with the zombie-like psycho. _

The hall in front of him was empty. Still suspicious the youngest member of Weiß opened the door fully. Still nothing. No scratching traces on the door, nor were there any hints of blood on the floor. Letting go of the breath he'd been holding, Omi returned into the small office. 

_´Just my nerves…?´ He suppressed a shudder. This all was getting more and more like a horror movie with him and his friends as cast. __´Weiß´ Shining, yeah, sure…´ Despite his efforts to make this strange event look ridiculous, he locked the door behind him. __´Just in case.´_

He returned just in time to his equipments to hear his teammates shout. _´Looks like they've found the target.´_

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Aya watch nonplussed how the door was thrown closed with nobody doing it, kicking Ken out of the room. The pervert in question was now sitting on the floor, staring at the door with a look of utter disbelief. "…….Did she say she's naked?"

Aya nodded. Ken clasped his head with one hand. "Ouch!"

…

"What is she doing naked in the same room as Brad?" 

Aya slammed the door open again.

The room in front of them was a total mess. One wall had several impact marks and half of the furniture was smashed or ruined by water. Obviously the sprinklers hadn't only worked in the corridors. On one side of the room was a queen-sized bed with silk sheets, now possible to be used as a waterbed, and chained on top of it, totally soaked as well… "Brad!"

Their target was nowhere to be seen. Quickly closing the distance between them, Aya breathed silently out in relief to see that the boy didn't seem to be harmed. Seeing Abyssinian and the worried form of Siberian behind him, the slightest trace of a smile appeared on Crawford's lips. "Ohayo… Long time not seen…" For an inch of a second the cold Weiß redhead returned the smile before frowning at the handcuffs which chained Brad onto the frame of the bed. "Siberian."

Ken simply nodded and went to work, slashing the handcuffs with his bugnuks. Despite his strength and the sharpness of his claws Ken had to slash repeatedly until Brad was finally free. Immediately Aya lent forwards and gently helped Brad into a sitting position. Just as he was to pull away again he felt a soft touch against the material of his sleeve. Directing a softly questioning look at Brad he noticed that the younger boy seemed to have problems with regaining his balance. Ken also frowned at the teen. "Brad, what-?" His question was cut off by the sound of a opening door. 

Immediately changing into a fighting stance, he glared at the woman who had appeared. Also having changed back into assassin mode, Aya raised to his feet, carefully avoiding throwing the dark-haired teen next to him off balance again and unsheathed his katana. The –now in a pair of jeans and a sweater clothed- blonde woman smiled brightly at them, appearing not to be irritated by the weapons directed at her at all. Grinning she made a step forward, raising her hand in a greeting. 

"You should be the rest of Weiß, I assume?"

Aya nodded grimly. Not fazed by the lack of answer, Tannin smiled again. "Aya-kun and Ken-kun, right? We met at the shop." None of them reacted. She pulled a pouting face. "Maaa…not talkative at all. Braddy-chan here was more fun." Aya´s glare got deadly at that. "What have you done to him?" Tannin giggled. Flipping back a wet lock of hair, she grinned. "Done? We just had a bit of wet fun after showing each other our bare skins." 

At that Ken charged with an infuriated howl at her, only succeeding to shred her sweaters sleeve before getting catapulted into the next wall with a sickening sound. The moment Ken was about to stand up, a bone-breaking force slammed him again into the wall, holding him there with a death grip. Tannin grinned cheerful and dropped the arm she'd raised slowly, not releasing her telekinetic force on the brunette assassin a bit. "Ashes over your head. Don't you know that it's rude not to let people finish their sentences? Bad kitty."

She smiled charmingly at Aya. "You guys really seem to like him. Wonder for how long?" She chuckled lightly, her smile turning into a sneering smirk. "But you're honestly a bad punch of hentais. To assume that I would…… Please, I'm maybe not that common with my tastes, but I'm long not such a sicko. That'd be a bad case of pedophility."

A shi-ne glare of death was directed at her. "And also he's still half drugged. Was a pretty concentrated shot, he got, ya know?" Tannin continued, seeming to have forgotten about the leader of Weiß and her hostage. "Wonder what it actually was? Jil´ forgot ta tell me, when he gave it to me…" 

Crawford decided that it was time to act. But before he had even enough time to get properly at his feet an invisible force pushed him against the bed. He cursed under his breath. Aya made a move to charge.

"Not so hasty."

Tannin had raised her hand again, the torn sleeve allowing a look on her tattooed arm. "We haven't introduced each other yet." She smirked at the seething redhead. "If I'd be you, I wouldn't move. We don't want to hurt your friends, do we?"

She turned her back on him provocatively, regarding Ken with a disdainful look. When she turned back, she was talking to Brad, not to Aya. 

"Since I already know who you are, I'll just introduce myself." She finally turned back to the redhead. 

"My name's Sammy Tannin aka Voivre. I was sent to get the lil´ ones head, just to your information. Cross my way and you're also a head shorter. I think your dear Balinese could tell ´bout that." The last sentence was sneered, grey- blue eyes shining with pure bloodlust for a moment. 

Taking a look at her wristwatch, she sighed. "Oh, children, just look at the time! I really have to go now or I'll miss my date! Ja, bye-bye."

And with that she slipped by the stunned Abyssinian and left the room. On the other side Ken relaxed with a breath. "Jeez…"

"Oh, I forgot….You may also want to leave. Preciously there came a call that a one-eyed psycho was on the loose in the hotel and not to leave the rooms… The police should arrive any minute now.^^"

"…Is she gone now?" 

"Aa." 

"Definitely?" 

"I think so."

"Good." 

"Shouldn´d we also get going?" Aya nodded silently. "Bombay…lead the way." "Hai, Abyssinian." Came the respond from trough the com link. Omi had heard everything through it. Right after this they were faced with a new problem. Though Brad was already able to stand and walk on his own again, he definitely wouldn't manage to run without loosing his balance.

Crawford cursed lowly in English. Ken looked questioning at Aya. "Abyssinian, Siberian, quick! They're already here!" The expression in Aya´s deep violet eyes darkened. There was no way they would make it out in time without leaving Brad behind. Fighting the police forces off was also out of choice. So, what was there else to do? He let his eyes travel over the slight frame of the dark-haired teen in front of him. "Hn."

Crawford eyed the redhead with distrust. That expression in his eyes was definitely suspicious. "What are you planning…?" "Aya?" Ken forgot to use his friends code name. 

"What should that-? H-Hey!! Let me down!!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Omi watched the hotel corridor worriedly. He was waiting near the back exist, worriedly tapping from one foot to the other. Aya and Ken should be there by any second. He honestly hoped that they had Brad with them. The minutes went by. Still no sign of them. 

Omi started to get hectic. Where were they?! "Bombay!!" Omi jumped with relief when he heard Ken's shout. Turning, he saw his brunette friend speeding towards him. 

"Siberian! Where's Abys-?"

Omi´s eyes widened at what he saw. Aya had been coming just after Ken, carrying a protesting Brad over his right shoulder. "Which direction?!" Omi blinked nonplussed. "A- this way!" Realizing that there was no time to be astonished, he turned and led the way. 

Everything went well until the last turn in front of the back exit. Omi and Ken had already made it outside when Aya, a bit slowed down by his burden, came to the last bend. The corridor was making a sharp turn in form of a T and was slippery due to the water. Aya´s boots weren't made for such conditions. It's easy to imagine what happened next. They turned just in time to see Aya dart by like a purple-black flash, when he started slipping. A timeless moment of flailing followed, then two surprised yelps. 

/Crash!!/

The two younger assassins sweatdropped.

Not very long after that little incident they had all made it safely to the car and – after a rather short discussion of who was to drive (Ken and Omi had enough from the drive there) – on their way home. None of them noticed the broken lock of the Porsches trunk, nor that it wasn't fully closed anymore. And of course no one caught the brief lightening up of a single golden eye in it. 

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Nagi was hell of a bored out of his brain by now. Just where the heck was everybody staying?! Not even that impudent intruder was moving! And he'd lost Schuldig since his arrival back in Japan.

Stifling a yawn, the prodigy of Schwarz finally closed the notebook that was resting in front of him, while scowling a bit. _´Nothing's going to happen tonight anymore anyway. Can as well shut it off.´ _

Suddenly a couple of hands were dropped over his eyes, a voice right next to his ear purring. 

"Who is it?"

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Ende Chapter 11

Gomen for taking so long! I had the chapter already written and finished, but school had to interfere. T_T Tests, tests and just more tests!! *Grrr…* 

Points of critic that have been taken note off:

Grammatical errors – I've gotten myself professional beta-reading help, so there shouldn't be any anymore. 

Time to upload - ^^* There it is.^^ Well, I'm trying to keep the chapters ´bout the same length (ca. ten pages) and hold the quality (what little there is…), so it's taking sometimes a bit longer…^^* I'll work on it, but I can't promise…

Thanks to: Miss J, Snickerdoodle, hyperventilater, Arikura Kouhino, Stuntcat, Rei Eien, Jenny, C.M Aeris Queen of insanity, Blume, Yuki Akabara, Yami no Tenshi, P-Chanmisao, S. Wing, maxine0_0, Aries Draco and Kyra (Just wait and see^_^).

Special thanx to Ryuke, Fizz (you know why^^) and Michan (I´ve been really happy about the mail).^.^  So, anything still unsaid? No? Then: 

Please Review!


	12. 12 to whom the bell tolls

Disclaimer: I'll let you know when I ever get those bishonen in my hands. Currently, they're not. *sniffs* Anyway, story and OC by me.

Author Notes: *sings horribly wrong* Jingle bells, Jingle bells, jingle all the way! O what fun that I forgot what I had to sa-hay. O what fun that I forgot what I had to say~! Jingle bells, jingle bells, … ~ Picaro in middle of PMA class. ^.^*

-Sugar's not good for ya, I tell you. 

What he certainly hadn't planned

Chapter 12

"Who is it?"

Nagi reacted out of reflex. Without thinking he reached out mentally and threw the impudent invader over his shoulder. "Ouch!!" Nagi stared in disbelieve at the redheaded figure in front of him. He was facing the redhead's back, but that wild mane of flashy orange-red hair spoke a clear language. "Schuldig?" 

Unlike normally, his amazement at this turn of events was evident in his voice. Midnight-blue eyes widened a bit in surprise, the fragile looking teen approached the person in front of him. The redhead sat grumbling on the floor, rubbing his damaged backside while cursing lowly. Nagi couldn't understand which curses they exactly were for they were gaijin; still it was easy to guess what they were concerning. _'What does he keep doing such things for, anyway? He should know by now how I react to them!'_ Mentally sighing, Nagi reached out to touch the redhead's shoulder. 

Just as he was finally about to take a look at the redhead in the face, a sudden blow hit him in the side, sending him sliding over the floor. A low chuckle was heard from the door. _'Wha-? Another telekinetic?!'_ Having been hit squarely, the youngest Schwarz had major problems with not losing consciousness. Sitting up, he noticed a strange man standing in the doorframe. "You should be more cautious with telekinetics." The amused looking male noted. Realizing that he wasn't spoken to, Nagi stared wide-eyed at the redhead on the floor. _'What?! Schuldig?!'_ Dark blue eyes, wide with shock and pain, turned at the slowly rising form of the redhead. 

Giving his companion a dark look, the redhead snorted, his mouth twisting into a cruel smirk. His eyes being hidden by a pair of colored sunglasses, Nagi could only assume the sneering expression in them. 

Before the small telekinetic had a chance to throw up any useable shields a heavy boot impacted with his head. With a pained outcry Nagi fell back on the floor. Clenching his head with his hands, he could feel the wetness of blood. The white-coated person sneered. 

"You little rat! Take this!!" And with that the redhead continued kicking the poor boy. Only when the brown-haired teen had finally curled up into a whimpering ball on the floor he seemed pleased. 

Nagi looked up to the familiar white coat-clothed redhead with pain-filled eyes. Though his vision was blurred due to the many hits he'd gotten, he still could make out the satisfied smirk the other was wearing. "Time to end this."

Nagi blinked. _´Schuldig? What?! Schu-…?_'

A searing pain right in his head sent him into oblivion.

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The Koneko no Sumu Ie was covered in silence when they returned. Every one of them was ready to return quickly to his room, having had enough for one night. But before…

Brad had fallen asleep again on their –much more calm- drive back to the shop. Assuming that he was exhausted from his captivity, none of the assembled members of Weiß had tried to wake him – till now. Giving the sleeping teen a doubtful look, Omi asked. "What now? I actually rather don't want to wake him up…" Ken nodded agreeing. "Yeah. Me too. That must have been rather hard for him." Before the two could do anything more, Aya had already ducked into the car and gently lifted the sleeping boy out of it. "…I'll take care of him."

Ignoring the surprised looks of his fellow assassins, he cradled the sleeping form of Brad in his arms and took of to their rooms. Ken and Omi stared wide-eyed after their leader. Though his expression had been somewhere resembling _soft_ (a shocking enough thing by Aya) his body language had been telling otherwise. More like ´The first one who tries to take him from me is going to die. Painfully.' Exchanging looks, they followed them silently inside. 

Carefully not to wake the sleeping boy that was huddled in his arms, Aya set him down onto his bed. Letting his eyes wander over his sleeping form, the cold Weiß redhead noted how boyish and cute Brad looked like that. 

His jet-black hair tousled from the water with those endearing stubborn strands which were- Wait! He was _not_ thinking, I repeat _not_, about Brad and being cute in the same sentence! He was _not_-…But the sleeping teen really looked a helluva cute like he was lying there on the bed. With his shields down his fragile form now showed all of the vulnerability and innocence he normally hid under his cold, unfazed exterior, Brad's face had softened with the easing sleep brought with it and- Aya grimaced. _´No way I'm doing this!´_ He was definitely NOT attracted to any other males, not to tell from underage boys…Even if they were as cute as Brad. Shit! Did he even think that? Turning away, Aya tried to convince himself that he was definitely _not_ thinking that Brad was cute or that he was attracted to the teen in any other way. 

He was failing miserably when Omi entered the room and saved him from further embarrassment. Quickly pulling up his cold mask again, Omi failed to notice the calamity his friend had managed to get himself into. 

Actually Omi had only come to make sure himself that Brad wasn't harmed in any way. Not that he was doubting Aya´s judgment, just that he still was the more or less most experienced in treating injuries and would probably be able to notice something that went by his teammate's and friend's eyes. Silently stepping up to the bed he noticed the paleness that had started to spread over the younger boy's features. Frowning, the young blonde asked "Aya-kun?" The tall redhead went silently to stand next to Omi by the side of the bed. Catching sight of what was worrying the younger boy, violet eyes widened a bit. 

Without saying a word he reached out and touched Brad's limp hand. It was ice-cold and slightly trembling. Aya's frown deepened. Being used to the silent redhead, Omi just nodded and checked the dark-haired boy's forehead. Also ice-cold. Omi´s frown got a worried edge. This wasn't good. Turning to Aya, he said. "We're going to need some warmer blankets. Aya-kun, could you get them?" Seeing as the redhead was already halfway out of the room, Omi added. "And could you tell Ken-kun too?"

Taking the affirmative sound Aya made before leaving the room as a yes, the young sandy-blonde turned to the shivering boy on the bed again. The worried look in his bright-blue eyes deepened. Was this an overreaction to the sedative he had been given? Or an overdose? The youngest Weiß member frowned, wishing that he knew what sort of drug had been injected to his friend. 

Carefully he reached out and opened the teen's eyelids as gently as possible. _´Maybe I can discover something that way…'_ There was nothing wrong with Brad's eyes. Frowning again, Omi was about to release his hold when something caught his interest. It was almost invisible, but when he squinted a bit…There was something in it. He reached out and brushed as softly as he could over the pupil. And stared surprised at what he was now holding between his fingers. _´A contact lens…?´_ Carefully he repeated the procedure with the other eye. 

Now he was holding a pair of them in his hand. _´He was wearing contact lenses the whole time?´_ Before he could trace that new information further down, Aya returned with some warm blankets in his hands. Not saying anything, the redhead dropped them on the bed and started peeling off the wet clothes Brad was still wearing. Just after they were replaced with some dry shorts and one of Aya´s shirts (which nearly reached down till his knees ^^*) and Brad was securely wrapped into the sheets, Aya directed a questioning glance at Omi. 

Knowing his friend, Omi simply shook his head. "I have no clue what's wrong with him." Aya´s frown deepened, his browns knitting together in a way that was indicating worry – a seldom expression on Abyssinian's face. Still, Omi had no time wondering about it. Brad's shivering form in front of him was much more important at the moment. 

"How's he doing?" The question was asked by Ken, who'd entered soon after Aya. In his hands he was holding a medical kit. Omi sighted and shook his head. "I have no clue, Ken-kun." Ken's expression darkened into a worried look. It'd be ridiculous if they'd rescued Brad from that woman just to watch him getting worse and worse now. Ken wasn't ready to accept this. Neither were Aya or Omi. Still, there was little they could do, without knowing what was actually wrong. Omi sighed again._ ´This is so frustrating…´_

Soon they'd done everything they could do. Unpleasantly that wasn't exactly much. Brad's pulse was a bit low and his limbs were as cold as ice, but out of that nothing seemed to be wrong. No fever, no signs of any illnesses or reactions to a drug, nothing. All they could do was to try to hold him as warm as possible and hope for any signs of improvement. Omi had suggested them taking turns in watching the ill boy, but Aya had interfered, announcing that he'd do it alone and that the others should take their rests. Silenced by one of the icy glares of doom, none of them younger assassin had been brave enough to voice protest.

And so dear Aya was alone with Brad again…

And to be honest the redhead had absolutely no clue about what to do. Sure, the prospect of spending the whole night alone with Brad wasn't that bad at all, but… Well, since the boy was ill there wouldn't be anything going to happen anyway. So no sense worrying about possible situations like having to explain why exactly he'd insisted on taking the whole watch thought he was as tired as Ken and Omi. 

Pushing himself not to think about such things, Aya redirected his attention back to the bed and its occupant once more. Taking in the fragile features, his violet eyes softened intangibly. _'He almost looks eternal.'_ The next second he frowned, remembering the reason for the dark-haired teen's paleness. Stepping closer, Aya reached a slender hand out to touch the sleeping boy –and hesitated. 

What if he would wake him with it? Or worse, what if he hurt him accidentally? Aya definitely didn't want that. Still, how Brad was lying there, all his shields down, presenting his vulnerable, unprotected core to the violent world…All in Aya cried out to touch and protect the boy at such a sight. 

Still frozen in his movement, Aya started wondering about what it was, that made him committing himself so much to a boy whom he didn't even know for two weeks. And also a boy who was lying right into his face and even admitting it! He knew Omi, Ken, and Yohji much longer and sometimes he didn't feel half as close to them! Aya frowned again, taking in the aesthetical beauty of Brad's sleeping face. _´So perfectly unconcerned…´_ As if he was in peace with himself and the world. The redhead's eyes won a rueful look. So totally different to what Brad looked like, when awake. Always when Aya had watched, the teen had been wearing that cloaked expression of uneasiness and anxiety in his beautiful golden-brown eyes, no matter what his expression had been. Almost as if he was waiting for something to happen…

Aya smiled silently to himself. Maybe that was one of the reasons why he liked him that much. Those far too experienced warm amber-brown eyes that were none the less shining with so much barely concealed lust for life… Just one look into them had been enough for Aya to know that that boy would never allow himself to be broken. That he'd never accept fate or run away, stop caring about everything…That he'd never throw himself away like Aya had done after the death of his parents and his sisters accident. Maybe it was those strong eyes that had captured the redhead. Maybe it was the fact that Brad managed to be so strong and weak at the same time. Or maybe…Aya didn't know. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he had that deep feeling that he knew Brad for a much longer time…As if from a different existence. No matter what, Brad had managed to tie the silent redhead much closer and tighter to him than anybody else had for a very long time. Maybe for forever.

… And he was really cute lying there with that tousled hair…-Stop that!! He was definitely NOT falling for a younger boy! …He already had. _Argh!!_

Gritting his teeth Aya turned away from the bed again, fighting against long forgotten and repressed emotions. 

Just to whirl around and at the sound of a soft whimper. Frowning down at the bed, he noticed that Brad had started shivering. A worried expression creeping into his eyes, Aya hesitantly reached down and touched a much too pale hand. _´Gods! As cold as a corpse's!!'_ Now he was really worried. Quickly he checked the smaller boy's forehead. Still no fever… Aya´s frown deepened. The absence of fever wasn't exactly a good sign. More of a bad. Fever was a sign of the body trying to heal itself. If it was staying out…-did that mean that Brad's body was willingly giving in to whatever ill was holding him into its cruel grasp? Aya hoped not. 

His worries now clearly written over his delicate face, he tried feverishly to come up with something to help Brad what they hadn't already tried before. He couldn't think of anything. Wait…! Brad was cold in the first place. If neither blankets, clothes or hot-water bottles were helping…maybe body heat could. 

A slight blush started to creep over the redhead's face for having such thoughts. Thinking about sharing the bed with Brad…God, how ill-minded could he still get?! Still, it was the only possible solution that came into his mind, except bringing the freezing boy immediately to a hospital. A thing he definitely couldn't do. 

But Brad was still shivering.

Sighing, Aya realized that there was really just one thing he could do. And he could still pretend that he was just doing it to help if anybody should notice. He just had to evade falling asleep. Having his mind set like this, the redhead quickly shrugged his clothes off, only leaving his shorts on. Though he preferred sleeping naked, Aya was quite sure that Brad wouldn't cherish the thought of waking up next to a naked man. Well, that had to do…

Taking care not to accidentally wake the dark-haired teen, Aya slipped carefully under the thick covers. Brad's body was really cold. Shivering involuntary a bit Aya reached carefully out and gently pulled the other to him until Brad's bare back rested against the warm skin of Aya's chest. His blush deepened until it matched his hair color, but luckily for him Brad didn't wake. Instead he sighted contently after a short span of time and turned to face the redhead, snuggling his face against the area between the redhead's smooth neck and his warm chest. Also feeling an arm being draped around his waist and a cold knee nudging against his, Aya had problems with keeping his coldness. After all Brad was still sleeping and just trying to find some warmth. Still, he couldn't keep a hot shiver from running up his spine, making him realize how much he liked the boy's closeness. 

After a short while Brad's body temperature started to get back to a somewhat normal state again. Satisfied with this workout Aya allowed a content smile to spread over his face. –After all nobody was there to see it. 

It would all turn out to be good – as long as he didn't fall asleep. And with such content thoughts Aya, known as the cold-blooded leader of Weiß and human icicle, fell asleep. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

On the other side, in the garage of the Koneko no Sumu Ie, in the trunk of Aya´s white Porsche…

…Farfarello had also fallen asleep. ^^*

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

When Crawford woke up the next day, (it wasn't exactly morning), his head was heavy like seldom before. Frowning he clenched his eyes shut again, trying to will the annoying haziness inside his head away. _´Grrr…God! What stuff exactly did they use?!´ _Just after he'd finally managed to clear his muddled thoughts, he opened his eyes again. And stared. 

He wasn't alone in the bed. Ok, that had already happened before since he was with Weiß, but this time he was lying snuggled against someone's bare chest having an arm draped around him. Slowly blinking, he carefully moved his head enough to see who it was. Abyssinian. Crawford stared in disbelief at that almost angelic peaceful face, framed with deep blood-red strands. 

Aya seemed to be really pleased with this. Of course Crawford could only assume that, though the way the redhead had slung his arms around him in a gentle hug would make one think that. Noticing the lack of clothes on the redhead, Crawford frowned again, wearing a perplexed expression. ´_What the fu-?!´ _

What exactly had happened after their driving home? And why hadn't he seen any of this coming? Waking up next to your supposed to be archenemy with no visible trace of clothes on his skin was something which should be counted urgent enough for some sort of advance warning. Crawford frowned again, his face darkening. He didn't like the thought of having his ability somehow blocked at all. 

One of the last things he remembered doing was cursing whatever idiot had activated the sprinkler systems due to the fact that he'd been awfully freezing in his drenched clothes. That had been on their trip home. And then? _´I must have fallen asleep…´_ Looking up again, Crawford's amber-brown eyes got a puzzled look. Had Aya carried him up here? 

Then he realized that he wasn't freezing anymore. Actually the redhead was comfortably warm…and he didn't seem too much offended with Brad using him as a human hot-water bottle. Smirking lightly at this thought, Crawford decided to lengthen the situation a bit. _´Let's see how he reacts when he wakes up.´ _Contend with his little scheme, the black-haired teen snuggled back against the redheads chest, forgetting for a moment to hate his shrunk body for its lack of size. Right now it seemed to fit right perfectly. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Somewhere else in the city. . .

Someone was having a way less nice morning. 

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, YOU DON`T HAVE HIM ANYMORE?!" 

Tannin winced at the volume of her visitor. After that little debacle at King's Hotel, she'd checked in another high-class hotel and slept it off. 

Until Jilocasin had decided to pay her a visit. The telepath had been curious to see how it had gone. Not to tell that he wasn't exactly happy to hear that the pale blonde telekinetic had simply let their target go. 

"Jil, calm down. There's no need to shout like that. Do ya want to get me deaf, or what?" The French stopped long enough from his pacing to throw her a venomous look. 

__

´I simply can't believe that you honestly did that.' A dry voice in her head stated. Tannin grinned, baring her teeth. _´Of course you can. After all I DID it.'_ That earned her another hateful look. _´Maudit arrogant telekinetics…. Do you realize how easy this could have been?!' _

Tannin smirked again. She liked annoying the telepath. Hearing him curse in French was always worth a laugh. _´Don't worry your little head. That's just givin' ya a headache. And after all I never said that I intended killing him.'_ Jilocasin raised an eyebrow. _´Non?´_

Tannin's smirk widened into a sneer. _´Not immediately. Like I said, I want to have my fun. Yesterday was just a little exercise to see how much fun he is going to be.'_

__

'And? Happy?' The blonde woman's smirk widened, a mischievous glimmer in her grayish-blue eyes. "May~be. Anyway, I've decided to go and see how he's doing against you and your team." 

That really caught Jilocasin´s attention. _´Had to have been an impressing confrontation.´_ "Jil?" "Hm?" "Bother if I raise the stakes a bit? You have the small one already, after all." 

The French tilted his head, but stayed unperturbed otherwise. _´And that'd be?'_ Tannin's smile got a nasty expression. "It seems that our dear Schwarz friend has made friends with a assassin group called 'Weiß'. I want you to get them both for me."

Jilocasin snorted at that, his face twisting into a look of disgust. _´Blancs? You're making fun of me?´ ´How would I ever dare? …And, to make this more interesting, let's say that the winner of us gets all of it.´_

The French telepath eyed the telekinetic suspiciously. One could never be sure if that woman was serious or not…Still, the bet wasn't that uninteresting. 

"I accept."

"Good to hear, my friend. I promise you that this is going to be the most interesting time of your life."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Watching the telepath leave, Tannin smiled contently. Now she didn't have to bother ´bout this annoying situation any more for some time and had time to "A-CHOO!!" 

__

´Shit!´ 

-to cure the cold she got from that unwilling bath combined with the walk through half the goddamn city 'cause she'd forgotten her purse. 

And also she'd finally have time to cure out her enormous hangover.

"Oh man, I feel sick…!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Violet eyes blinked lazily, slowly focusing on the day's light. _´What a night…´_ Yawning widely, Aya stretched, trying to get the sleepiness out of his long limbs. Touching something warm, he froze. _´!´_

Looking down, the cold redhead sweatdropped. Snuggled to his bare chest, laid nobody else than Brad, obviously quite contend with his position. _´Kami-sama…!´_ He'd fallen asleep! After reminding himself constantly not to do it, he'd promptly fallen asleep! Gulping slowly, he looked down into the face of the sleeping boy. Brad's eyes were firmly closed, his constantly ruffled bangs hanging into them and tracing soft trails of liquid shining black against the pale skin of Aya's chest. Definitely there and yet so soft like the slightest impression of a butterfly wing's touch … Aya continued looking, enchanted by the unearthly aura of the being he'd managed to lure into bed with him… – Even if it was just for sleeping. To the guilt-ridden redhead it was unbelievable impressive that somebody could look as untroubled and at peace with his life asleep.

A slight smile stole its way into those purplish violet eyes, making them dance. _´Nearly as an angel, unaware of the existence of any sins.'_ What made him smile was the knowledge that Brad was certainly anything else than that. The recent events had just proven that the black-haired boy was very well aware of the corruptions life held. Aware and probably also already highly entangled into them. 

His amber-brown eyes showed that all too clearly. 

Still, he seemed so unconcerned…like a child who knew that everything would become good in the end. That dangerous mix of innocence and experience were captivating the emotionally cold redhead, making him love the teen like- Wait! Scratch that!! Aya was definitely going to swoon over some strange teen-age boy just because he was looking nice when sleeping! Or that effortless elegantly way of moving, he had…Stop it!!

Shaking his head, Aya tried to clear his poor head. He wasn't used to such situations at all. To his shock Brad started moving next to him. _´Shit!´_ Aya had absolute no clue of how the teen would react to his presence in his bed and wasn't exactly thrilled with the thought of finding out soon. Caramel eyes blinking open lazily, Brad started stretching while yawning heartily. An unaware stroke over Aya's side sent a chill down the redhead's backbone, making him jump at the same time. 

Aya yelped in surprise as he suddenly found himself lying on the hard floor next to the bed. Seemingly that jump had been just a jump too much… A melodic low chuckle made him look up just to meet Brad's amused golden-brown eyes. They were shining with a hidden mischievous sparkle, his lips having misted over with a hint of a grin. Supporting himself on one arm, Brad glanced down at the fallen redhead. 

"Good morning to you too, Aya. Though there might be persons who would take such a reaction after you'd spent the night with them as an insult." 

Averting his shining violet eyes, Aya flushed deeply. Brad just laughed a bit more at that reaction. The redhead decided then and there that he liked the gentle sound of the boy's voice when he was laughing. 

Standing up but still evading the amused teen's eye contact, Aya scowled slightly before saying harshly. "You had fallen unconscious due to hypothermia on our ride back. It seemed logical in order to warm you up." 

"So you just shared blankets with me ´cause I was to cold to you?" 

Crawford chuckled again when the redhead of Weiß just turned away at that question, his face turning even redder. Annoying somebody else for a change was quite fun! His smile turning to a more familiar smug one, Crawford watched Abyssinian approach the door. Not looking back at the boy in the bed Aya opened the door and prepared to leave. "I'll tell the others that you're well again." Behind him he could feel Brad nod approvingly. Not waiting for the boy to speak, Aya quickly exited the room. 

Just as he was about to close the door from outside, Brad called after him. "Aya." Halting in his movement, Aya rose one thin eyebrow questioningly. Brad was sitting on the bedside, looking absolutely serious now. "…Thanks." 

Aya simply nodded, closing the door though a solemn smile grazed the redhead's lips as soon as he was sure that nobody could see it. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Yohji cursed that blasted medical staff of Kritiker. Not only that he wasn't allowed to flirt with the nurses; no, they'd actually set his right arm back into its joint without giving him as less as a warning before doing it!! And of course without local anesthesia! Getting your bones rammed back into their joints fucking hurt! 

Banishing the thoughts about his still throbbing arm and the painful death of some over-helpful doctors, Yohji tried to concentrate on the problem at hand. That telekinetic had called Brad 'Crawford'. 

Gritting his teeth, the tall blonde of Weiß heightened his speed a bit. Crawford! It was all perfectly fitting together! How he'd known berserk's real name! Or how easily he'd dealt with the revealing of their real earning of their life! It had been so obvious the whole time!! Flashing green eyes narrowed in annoyance. No wonder that they hadn't heard from Schwarz recently! There was just to ask if it was just Crawford or all of them. Yohji shuddered at the thought of a team of chibi-Schwarz running around. And why had he not attacked them while he had the chance to? A question whose answer was wide out of Yohji's touch.

For a short moment he wondered if that woman had just played a prank on him. But not for long. The similarities were just too much to be accidental. Having made up his mind, the playboy faced just one last problem. How was he supposed to make his teammates believe him?

Omi had officially made friends with ´Brad´, Ken was the same and even Aya seemed to have been growing closer to the chibi. Hell, Yohji himself had also been quite fond of him! So? 

__

´I'll just have to go and face them.'

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Farfarello watched silently how Balinese entered the shop, just to be crowded immediately with a bunch of squealing fangirls. The one-eyed albino pulled a face at their high-pitched screams. 

Luckily for his sensitive ears Weiß shooed their 'customers' nearly immediately out of the shop and closed it down. They were talking agitatedly to each other, and Balinese and Abyssinian especially seemed to be of different opinions. _´Wonder if it's about child-Brad_.'

Deciding to find out the reason for the hectic atmosphere which had ensued, Farfarello started to move, gliding past the once in top form white Porsche. It had been quite a surprise for him to notice that his sleeping place had been colored white. White. Well, Farfarello had nothing against the color in general, (would be a bit stupid for an albino ^^*)…Just against _too much_ white. If used in bigger amounts, people always tended to see it as the color of God. Pure, innocent white…Farfarello hated God. And he destroyed anything referring to him. 

Even if it was a white sports car.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Upstairs Crawford had also heard the noise that accompanied the arrival of Balinese. Not exactly wanting to pick their conversation up where they'd left it, he quickly slipped into his room when a vision struck, leaving him shuddering. 

__

´Nagi-!!´

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"And I say that you're wrong!"

"O yeah?! And why?!"

"… .."

Aya glared icily at him, looking quite pissed. For once Yohji didn't back away, but answered the redhead's stare with an equally icy one, his green eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Just because you don't like it, it won't change, Aya! I heard her clearly call him Crawford! And even without that there're more than enough evidences!"

"Like?"

"Goddamnit, Aya!! Just look at him! You all agreed that he looks like him! And he called berserk Farfarello! Not to mention that he survived his encounter with the psycho without even a single scratch! No normal human could do that!"

"Hn."

"Don't ´hn´ at me like that! Do you remember how the kid reacted when we told him about Weiß? As if he'd known already everything!"

Casting Omi a worried look, Ken glanced back and forth between his fighting friends. As a friend he felt like he had to say something for Brad, yet at the same time the things Yohji said were making an awful amount of sense. Brad really had been acting strange sometimes, when he thought about it. But him being Crawford… That was really a bit much. 

Omi looked down, torn by inner conflicts. Brad-kun was his friend; he'd said that himself. He'd also never given him any chances to doubt that statement. Still… Unconsciously he started playing with the two fragile items in his pants pocket. He'd wanted to talk with Ken-kun about them first, before showing them to the others, but now…

Clearing his throat, the Omi said. "Um…Guys?" That caught their attention. 

"Yeah, bishonen?" 

"Omi?"

Aya just glared inquiringly at him, his real feelings hidden behind a wall of burning ice. Omi gulped, fidgeting a bit more. Pulling out his hand of his pocket, he opened it to show the other three what he was holding.

Squinting down at the two little transparent pieces in the younger blonde's palm, Yohji asked, "What's this?" Ken nodded in agreement, his confusion over the way things were evolving clearly written over his face. Aya rose just an eyebrow, his expression not changing in the last.

"That are contact lenses. I- I found them last night when I checked Brad for any wounds."

Aya´s glare just deepened at that, while Yohji murmured something like ´I knew it!´. Ken frowned, giving his friend a concerned look. "Do you think he really is…?" Heaving a sight under his breath, Omi shook his head. "I really don't know, Ken-kun, as much as I wish I did."

Looking up slowly and fearing what they might see, they both turned to Aya, waiting for an answer. 

"Aya?" 

Blazing violet eyes met theirs, just before Aya turned, heading for the stairs. "Hey! Aya!" "Aya-kun..!" "What are you doing-?" Not halting for a second, Abyssinian started to climb up the staircase. "Go ask him."

Yohji gaped wide-eyed at the redhead that called himself their leader. "Right into his face?! Aya-!" He never came to finish is sentence. As soon as the redhead had set his foot on the topmost stair, a silver-haired shadow bounced at him, shrieking.

"YIYIYIYIYIYI!!"

"Oh crap!"

Yohji watched mortified how the crazy psycho knocked his friend over, sending them both tumbling down all the chairs. With a cat's agility Farfarello landed on Aya´s stomach, pinning the redhead to the ground while readying his knife for a deadly strike. 

/BANG!/

Before any of Weiß came even to move, a shot rang, the bullet driving into the floor about two inches from the two quarreling men. 

"FARFARELLO!! NO!"

They looked up in shocked disbelief. On the top of the stairs stood nobody else than Brad, aiming an unlocked gun at the albino. "Leave Abyssinian! Prodigy's more important right now!" 

Or was Crawford aiming at Aya?!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter

Whee! Another Cliffhanger! Cliffhangers are fun (to write)! And I went slightly out of ideas for this chapter…^_^* So it's ending here!

As you may have noticed by now the pairing's Aya x Crawford. Yeah, you read right. Aya(Ran)x Crawford! While I was reading I noticed that it was always Craw-chan going after Aya-kun…^.^ So, I've decided to change that! Sorrowfully I'm not really good at writing anything resembling romance, so please be gentle. 

PS: Nagi and Schu fans, don't kill me! Wait till the next chapter! Please!! *fears for her life*

Thanks to: Blume, krylancelo, Rei Eien, Chibigreen Tanuki, S.Wing, Yami no Tenshi, newtypeshadow, Silogane, minko, Snickerdoodle, Chinkypee, yue, Shuo Ri, maxine0_0, Kyra, Jenny, kaurr, Blue6 –Blood6J6 and Naoe. Over hundred wheee!^_^


	13. 13 confrontation

Disclaimer: *takes deep breath* O f**k! Go looking at the ones of the previous twelve chapters! Still hasn't changed a bit. (Though I wish it had.^.^) 

Author notes: Whoo-!! Sorry that that took so long. Also, I fear that I've somehow ´mixed´ the beta-read version and the alpha one of this chapter, so if there are any mistakes in it, it's fully my fault. (If they're not, then I somehow managed to find the right one.) ^.^* Translations are on the bottom, hope you enjoy! 

What he certainly hadn't planned

Chapter 13

It was heavy to tell who was more surprised, Farfarello or Weiß. Well, with Farfarello, it was probably just the fact that he'd actually shot at them. Maybe it was also just because he had mentioned Nagi. Anyway, the Irishman froze on top of Aya, the edge of his blade dangerously near the redhead's throat. 

His single golden eye regarded Crawford with a questioning look. 

Ignoring the others, Crawford met it with one of his authoritarian glares. The tip of Farfarello's blade touched the skin of Aya's throat, poking it slightly. 

Another bullet drove itself into the floor, this time just inches away from hitting the white-haired man's hand. 

Farfarello tilted his head a bit, still staring at Crawford. The Oracle's eyes were blazing by now, not out of concern for Weiß or something, but out of rage over the open questioning of his authority. Disobeying his orders was not healthy to do. "I said no, Farfarello." The tone of his voice was icy, sounding like it always did when the American was about to kill somebody. 

__

´Don't dare to disobey me.´ Getting the unsaid warning, Farfarello slowly relaxed his grip on Abyssinian a bit, though not enough to give the redhead a chance to free himself. After a reluctant moment also the blade vanished. Crawford just continued glaring at him. 

"Go to safe-house number thirteen and check if Nagi's there. If not, return immediately." Crawford's voice sounded cold and matter-of-fact, like always when the leader of Schwarz was explaining a mission to his team, and like always, he just told what was pressing necessary. Standing up, Farfarello blinked slowly at Crawford, giving him a questioning look once again. "The old warehouse?" 

"No. The one in the business district. And no dawdling." 

For a moment the two psychics still held eye contact, then, Farfarello suddenly turned around soundlessly and left the room. Too shocked, none of the members of Weiß even tried to stop him. 

"…Crawford?"

Crawford tilted his head in Ken's direction, slightly raising an eyebrow. "Yes?" His voice stayed cold, and he also didn't lower the gun. With a bemused expression, Crawford took in their different reactions to his true identity. While Ken was simply staring wide-eyed at him, obviously not wanting to believe what was happening, Omi took it quite better. The sandy-blond teen just looked at him, wearing a somehow crestfallen expression on his face. Yohji was glaring at him as if he was wishing to rip his throat off, and Aya… Crawford frowned a bit on the hurt look that had appeared on the redhead's face. As if he'd betrayed him. 

Crawford didn't know exactly why, but that look irritated him. Disbelief, sorrow, anger and hate, he was used to deal with, but that… That expression was something different, foreign to the precog. A thing he didn't know. Crawford didn't like to be ignorant. 

His eyes narrowed, Yohji hissed. "You disgusting, traitorous, little Schwarz bastard!! You planned this the whole time!" The muzzle of the gun swung in his direction, aiming directly at his head. Wearing his usual cold-ass, smug expression, Crawford flashed him a sneering grin. "Not exactly."

At this moment the whole scene was concentrated on the confrontation between their once believed alley and the playboy of the group. All of the other Weiß members had stayed on their respective places, not really daring to interfere with the dangerous situation. Internally, Crawford cursed. If he gave Yohji a chance, he and the other assassins would attack. The dark-haired teen knew that he wouldn't stand any good against the four of them at once, with gun or without it.

Yohji growled. "What do you mean?" At the same time, he reached for the thin wire in his watch. Crawford noticed it. "I wouldn't try that." Yohji shot him a venomous glare. "You can't intimidate me. We found your contact lenses. You can't see anything properly, much less take aim." Crawford grinned at the defiant sound in the playboys voice. Keeping his smug impression up, he retorted. "I wouldn't be so sure on that." 

If possible, Yohji's glare got even more deadly. Crawford chuckled lowly.

"Brad?"

The strangely strangled tone in Omi's voice irritated Crawford for a sliver of a second, making him look at the small blonde. That was long enough for Yohji. With an enraged outcry he sent his wire flying, aiming directly at Brad's face. 

Again, the incredible happened. Letting go of the gun, Crawford jumped back, changing into a fighting stance. For a moment nothing happened. Then the small dark-haired teen suddenly unleashed a quick row of boxing punches, seemingly hitting the thin air. Actually he was hitting, fending the nearly invisible deadly wire off like nothing. 

The thin thread fell to the floor without fulfilling its deadly mission. With one single smooth movement Crawford stepped on it, disabling Balinese from starting a new try and picked up the gun, aiming it immediately at Ken who had been trying to reach him. 

"Stay where you are!"

Ken froze immediately, his vibrant brown eyes showing clearly his uneasiness with the situation. He wasn't the only one who could barely belief what was happening. The Oracle still held the gun aimed at his head, looking as bastardly smug as Ken was knowing it from the leader of their enemy assassin group. _´But that's impossible! Brad can't be Crawford! He can't!´_

The brunette nearly jumped when Aya suddenly appeared beside him. The always cool redhead's eyes were shining with something else than usual, something Ken didn't knew from him. Disbelief. Hurt. His friend looked as horribly hurt as one could be. 

Then he realized that the barrel of the gun wasn't any longer aimed at him, but at Aya. The redhead didn't seem to care - neither about the obvious threat nor the fierce glare he received from Brad. Instead, he kept advancing until another bullet found its way into the floor, not even an inch away from Aya's foot. Stopping, Aya looked at Crawford, calm violet eyes making straight eye contact with excited amber-brown ones. 

"… Crawford."

There was no hint of emotion in his deep calm voice, nor was it a question. It was a simple statement of a fact, no accusation or silent plea for denial. Just a statement. Crawford's eyes narrowed dangerously. 

Before either of them could further react, Yohji sprang into action again, withdrawing his wire with a sudden, brutal jerk. As strange as it sounded, Crawford had obviously not been prepared for something like that. Being caught by surprise and over-judging his weight, the slight, black-haired teen got jerked from his feet and, loosing his balance, tumbled down the whole staircase. 

Not only Ken winced at the awful sounding crash with which the Oracle landed. 

Wincing, Crawford tried to banish the pain out of his body while trying at the same time to reach for his gun. He yelled out in pain when somebody stepped heavily at his grasping fingers. Looking upwards, he could see the tall form of Balinese towering over him. _`Damn!´_

"Brad! Daijobou?"

Omi was stopped from an icy glare. "Omi! Don't you get it?! He's Crawford!" The anger was evident in Yohji's voice. Though, it wasn't directed at Omi, the genki youth shrunk immediately back as if being hit. A small gasp from Brad made them look down. Yohji had unconsciously stepped harder on his hand as he'd talked to Omi. With provocative slowness, the tall blonde lifted his foot just enough for Crawford to pull back his hand. Rubbing his hurt fingers, Crawford shot him a glare of death. _´How dare he-!´_

All right, so he was down, disarmed, and outnumbered. That still didn't give them the right to stomp around on his fingers! Using all of his self-control, he managed to stand up quietly and to give all Weiß members a mocking, self-confident half-smile. An expression that he knew made other seethe. 

"Thanks for your concern, Omi, but Balinese is right. I AM Crawford, and as a member of Schwarz, I´m not depend on it." 

Making a small gasp, Omi backed away from the dark-haired boy. Ken shook his head. He simply couldn't believe it. That was Brad! Brad was not older than fifteen! Crawford was over twenty! Did the oracle shrink? That was impossible!

"But how-?"

Crawford cut him off, the same gruel smirk playing over his face. "How it is that I'm this young now? I don't think that's anything of your concern Weiß." 

At those cold, uncaring words, Ken gave him a hurt look. Crawford cringed inwardly. _´Like beating a puppy.´_ Still, that was something that had to be done. Mustering his self-control once more, Crawford laughed at their faces, showing them undoubtedly that he wasn't afraid of them in the least. 

Omi winced at the awful sound. That laughing sounded totally different from what normally came from the dark-haired teen. Unlike his usual dark chuckles, it didn't sound amused in any way at all. Just cold, malicious, and cruel. It was a dead sound.

By now, Yohji was ready to jump and strangle Crawford with his bare hands. How could he dare to laugh?! His green eyes narrowed dangerously; the blonde gritted his teeth. How could he dare?! After all the time they'd spent together, he was simply laughing at their faces. _´Schwarz!´_ He should have been expecting that. After all, the boy was Crawford. He was Schwarz. Of course he wouldn't let his head hang down and stammer something like that he hadn't done it deliberately, that he don't want to fight them anymore, or something like that! 

No, he really couldn't expect that. Not from Schwarz. The guy had coolly watched how his own team-member being buried alive and hadn't even cared to see if he was still living or not! Yohji was seething with rage. Not from the fact that the boy was a member of their enemy team or because he had shot at them, no. His rage came from inside, where he was hurt because his, _their_, thrust had been abused that badly. Wasn't there even one human they could thrust without being betrayed immediately? Yohji was hurt. Badly. 

__

´First Asuka, now Brad…´ He wasn't going to take this any longer. He wouldn't let them get away that easily after playing with their feelings anymore. He would make Crawford pay for hurting him, and even more for hurting Omi and Ken.

At that instant, Crawford's eyes narrowed "Of course I've betrayed you." 

Right then, Brad didn't look like a young, helpless boy anymore, but like the cold Oracle, leader of Schwarz, whom they had fought so often. He couldn't have looked more intimidating as his normal self and armed to his teeth. The two younger members of Weiß stared wide-eyed at him, unable and –willing to honestly believe what happened. 

With an angry growl, Yohji pounced on Crawford, just to be caught with a jab right into his guts. Having already been ready for this, Crawford continued immediately, hitting the lanky playboy painfully against at head. 

Yohji didn't even have time to realize what was happening, when he had already landed on the floor in a painful crouch. "Damn Schwarz-bastard..! …ow.....You won't get away with that!" Crawford regarded the fallen Balinese with a contemptuous look. 

"Won't get away? I already have, Balinese." He shook his head at the blonde's futile attempts to get up again. Eyeing Yohji with a thoughtful look, Crawford sighted slightly before shaking his head again. 

"I really don't know want you want Yohji. After all nothing happened." 

Yohji glared at him. "You tricked us! You used our feelings for your advantage!"

Crawford let out an barking laugh. "Of course I did! I don't know about you, but I for my part prefer staying alive for some time longer. Honestly, what did you expect? That I'd say ´oh, by the way, I'm the leader of Schwarz´? Really Kudou, as a former PI you ought to be a bit more clever."

"You wormed your way into our confidence to kill us!"

At that Crawford whirled around, snapping. "Kill you? Kill you?! You fool! How often do you think I could have killed you before, if I'd wanted it?! Idiots!! Don't take yourself that important, Weiß! Neither your foolish secrets nor something else about you interests me! Do you think I would've stayed if I had a choice?! Certainly not!" 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Aya watched helplessly as Brad started to scream. No, not Brad – Crawford. Schwarz. Oracle. The one who was responsible for the kidnapping of his sister. 

His enemy.

As solid as it looked, his calm was just external. Inside Aya/_Ran_ was shaking with horror. It was as if the worst of all his possible nightmares had become true. Crawford. Schwarz. He had fallen for his worst enemy. 

No, that wasn't true. Aya had fallen for that elusive, mysterious boy they had brought home that fateful night, not Crawford. Brad was totally different from the cold, calculating oracle. 

Brad had been nice in his covered ways. 

Brad had been honest.

Aya could not think of any possibility that the charming teen was in reality such a vicious murderer. That was impossible. Simply impossible! Aya barely noticed when Yohji got knocked down. All that was feeling to him like in an unreal dream about which he knew that he'd wake any second. Just, that it wasn't a dream.

Aya couldn't wake up, and nothing would be good. 

It was real. Brad _was_ Crawford, and, as much as he wished, Aya could do nothing to change that fact.

Crawford's eyes were filled with barely disguised disdain by now, his voice having gotten a cutting edge. Glaring right at Aya, he sneered.

"You Weiß kittens are so miserably pitiful that it makes me ill! All you're concerned about is yourself, no matter how generous you act! Don't tell me that shit that you're killing people for the sake of others! That's fucking nonsense!! You're killing people because they were bad?! Who made you god that you can decide that?! Admit it or not, you're bloodthirsty killers just as much as we are! You like the hunt and the thrill of killing! You want to kill them! 

And what beats everything is that you have the courage to keep complaining about how miserable you are! So your lover died while saving you? God, at least somebody cared about you that much! Your friend deceived you? How often, do you think, does that happen every day?! Your parents didn't care enough about you to pay your ransom? At least you didn't got thrown out like a piece of trash or got sold like some old keepsake! And hey! If I see right, you were saved! All that trash happens everyday, but how many people have started killing other because of it, huh?!"

"And you!", He was speaking directly to Aya now, "You're the best of all of them! Do you even remember the reason you started killing people? Do you?! She's awake now, Ran, and you are dead to the world. "

A deathly silence had befallen the room by now, being broken solely by Crawford's hypnotic voice. As if time itself had paused, none of Weiß had moved since the first moment of Crawford's outburst. Though seemingly calm again, Crawford quivered inertly with anger and shame. Shame that he hadn't been able to prevent his feelings from breaking free in front of the enemy. Shame that he hadn't managed to control himself, out of all people. 

Aya froze at the expression that had suddenly turned up in Crawford's amber-brown eyes. It wasn't really anger…more like something else far more destructive. Hate. And it wasn't really directed at them.

Starting to speak again, the teen gave the redhead a weary look. "Did you ever think of the consequences when you took on her name? When you killed in her name? Do you think she wanted you to become a murderer to pay her bills with bloody money? "

He was past the point of angry shouting by now, having reached the state were his words didn't had to be emphasized by volume anymore, to be cutting. Somehow, this new way of speaking was even scarier than the shouting.

"Dou you think she wanted her brother to become a killer for her sake?"

Aya was no longer able to bear the other's gaze. Evading Brad's eyes, he lowered his head. 

For a seeming long moment Crawford still looked at him, then he shook his head wearily. 

"As long as you stay like this, you are never going to be a real threat to us, Weiß."

With that, he started to leave the room, obviously uncaring about the other four males in there anymore. 

"Stop right there!"

Once again, it was Yohji, who recovered first. Holding the gun Crawford had lost, he aimed it at the small teen. "Don't think that I'll let you get away with that like nothing happened, Schwarz! And don't think that we didn't already knew everything you said."

Looking at the gun aimed at his chest, Crawford chuckled. "Really? Then why don't you act on it?" He started moving again. 

Growling, Yohji pulled the trigger. Remaining unimpressed, Crawford turned back to him. "A bit far off the mark, even for a warning."

"I warn you Schwarz! One more step and I'll shoot you."

Once again, Crawford just smirked at the threat. "Will you? Then I recommend you to take better aim this time, Yohji, because there's just one more bullet in that gun." 

Yohji's eyes narrowed. Was Crawford just bluffing, or was he speaking the truth? Crawford smirked again. "You can ask Fujimiya, if you don't trust me. After all it's his gun." Yohji shot Aya a disbelieving look. He didn't know that their leader was actually able to use such a thing, not to tell from owning one. His violet eyes as unreadable as always, Aya nodded. Seeing the blonde's uneasiness, Crawford immediately decided to push it a little further.

"I have to admit, it was quite a peasant surprise to find it in his room."

Having directed Balinese's attention back at him, he started walking again, still smirking. "Stop!!" Turning, Crawford sized him with a devilish expression. "What is it, Kudou? I thought you wanted to shoot me if I keep moving?" 

He spread out his arms. "Well? I´m waiting." His voice was wearing an amused edge now, which was a bit similar to Schuldig's. O yeah, Schwarz was learning quite well from each other. "Or is it that you don't have the courage to shoot me in the back?"

Despite all of his determination and desire to simply shoot the outrageous guy, Yohji's hands were trembling. He still was Brad. He still was the secretive boy, who had become their friend over the last two weeks. And, no matter what, he had been a _good_ friend. 

He was relieved from making a decision by Aya, as the redhead suddenly stepped up and grapped Brad from behind. Wrapping his hands securely around the smaller teens shoulders, he held him in a firm, yet not brutal grasp, keeping him from moving. Not to mention that Crawford wasn't exactly happy with that. His amber-brown eyes flaring with anger, he immediately started kicking and squirming, cursing at the redhead. First, Aya didn't react. Then…

"Don't."

Crawford hesitated for a moment. "Don't what? Try to free myself?" "Ie." Lowering his voice so much that just Brad could understand his next sentence, Aya said "Don't keep trying to hurt yourself." 

At that words Crawford's eyes widened, taking on a unbelieving expression. How could he know-? Aya watched calmly as all of Brad's –(he kept calling him that in his mind)- efforts to get out of his grip suddenly subsided. From one moment to the next, the fake teen became perfectly calm, as if the recent events had never happened. With a soundless sigh, which the redhead rather felt than heard, he relaxed all at once, not only dropping his fighting stance but also every other thing which made him look like in control. Lowering his head a bit, he asked in the same lowered voice Aya had used. "But what if I want to?" 

Closing his vibrant violet eyes, Aya whispered. "Then I wont let you." By now, he was more embracing than holding the dark-haired teen, though to everyone else, the difference was not visible. Crawford stiffened a bit at those words. Still keeping his eyes from being visible, he asked. "Why? Why won't you, Aya? I'm your enemy and nothing will change that, no matter how nicely you treat me."

The redhead didn't answer. Crawford clenched his fists, the tension returning into his body. "Answer damnit! Why should you care if I hurt myself or not, Abyssinian?!" He paused of a moment before hissing. "Let go of me! With my talent I'm maybe not very useful in battle as an adult and like this even less, but I won't just sit here and watch one of my freakin´ teammates DIE!" In his anger, he hadn't only returned to the use of his mother tongue, but also the words had gotten out a bit louder as planned, allowing the rest of Weiß to hear for the first time what they were speaking. "Damn!" Registering his mistake, Crawford pulled himself free from Aya's grip and, quickly bringing some distance between him and the redhead, glared hatefully at them. 

What did he knew about them to tell him what to do? Nothing! Inwardly Crawford was shaken. That what Aya had done had hurt him much more than the short physical struggle with Yohji. The Oracle was well-acquainted with physical pain and mental hurting, coming from Rosenkreuz and being viewed as a freak for nearly his whole life, but that… Aya had sounded different. As if he cared. Crawford wasn't used to somebody caring about him. Not used to caring at all. 

So, naturally, every gentle word and touch, -and that they were, doubtlessly,- felt to him like a direct hit into the face, hurting more than anything else. _´Why haven't I simply left already?´ _Crawford had no answer for that simple question. He wanted to go, for sure. …did he?

"Crawford…He will die, won't he?"

Crawford arched an inquiring eyebrow at Omi's tentative question. "What do you mean by that?" Omi obviously didn't feel well under that look, when he continued, asking again. "Nagi – I mean Prodigy... He's going to die, don't he? You have seen it?"

For a long moment Crawford simply stared at him, his eyes wearing a blank expression. Just as Omi was about to give up to hope for an answer, the Oracle blinked, the expression in his eyes changing rapidly. For an fraction of a moment, the youngest member of Weiß thought that he saw something akin to care flash across his warm amber-brown eyes, but already in the next second, they were cold again, calculation orbs without any visible soul behind them. 

Somehow, these cold, dead eyes were making him shiver, wanting to retreat. _´As if he's looking right into the innermost of my soul.´_ Feeling that this wasn't the right time to give in to such unfounded urges, Omi held his ground against that stare. After what seemed to be half an eternity, Crawford stopped to size him up like that and turned to Aya instead. Meeting the redhead's eyes with an firm look, Crawford nodded briefly, never lowering his eyes. 

"Yes, I have had a vision of his dead."

"Because of that you've sent Farfarello away instead of attacking."

Crawford blinked again, not really giving away any of his emotions. "Exactly."

Aya nodded in approval at that answer, seemingly understanding what the Oracle meant. "You care about him."

Yohji had to keep himself from laughing out loud at this question. The Oracle and care?! "About all of my team." Green eyes widened in surprise at that answer. None of the others seemed to be surprised at the natural tone Crawford had said this with. As if it was something matter of fact simple. 

"Then you should go rescue him."

"First I have to wait for Farfarello to return."

"Aa." 

Aya nodded with as much as a hint of approval, his and Crawford's eye contact having never been broken during the whole conversation. Yohji gaped wide-eyed at them. Did that mean that they were going to do nothing? Crawford had been leading them up the garden path the whole time and they were going to do nothing?! He couldn't believe Aya was going to do that.

He couldn't do other than to blurt out. "Hey! Wait a minute!" Four pairs of eyes turned at him, three questioning and one illegible. 

Giving his team-members a disbelieving look, the tall blonde asked in an inquiring voice. "Excuse me, but the last time I checked that was Crawford we were speaking about. Crawford, minna! The leader of Schwarz!" Amber-brown eyes narrowed. Looking puzzled, Ken nodded slowly. "Yeah, so?" Yohji could just shake his head in open disbelieve. 

"So?! The leader of Schwarz! Our enemies, remember? You can't simply let him go, don't you get it?!"

Ken shook his head again, this time more energetically. "Ie. I understand that. But you don't seem to understand. Yohji, we _have_ to let him go." "Huh?" To say that Yohji was nonplussed at that reply was an understatement. Gesturing with his hands in a way that was indicating with his slight embarrassment at suddenly having to play the advocate for somebody of Schwarz, Ken said. "Schwarz. He's a member of them. You said it yourself. They're his family, as much as Weiß is ours. We can't keep him from trying to help them if they're in danger." 

  
This time Yohji couldn't keep himself from giving a snort in derision. "His family? Do you guys really think that-" "Such freaks could really have something as human as a family?" 

Everyone froze at that calmly asked question, staring at Crawford. The black-haired American was still disturbingly calm, as if he wasn't concerned about this at all. "Brad…" Crawford noted slightly amused that the brunette was still using his Christian name. Next to him, Yohji growled.

"Not exactly what I wanted to say, but close enough."

Omi stared wide-eyed at his friend. "Yohji-kun!" He couldn't believe that he could be that spiteful. Before he could say anything more, Brad weaved his hand, cutting him off. He still seemed to be totally unaffected about the turning of this, no; even amused.

"Let him, Omi. It's not the first time I have to deal with such prejudices, nor is he totally wrong. Our bond to each other is not that strong that you could call it anything any more than resembling a loose fellowship." 

"Still it is far more than any of us could be expecting to get." Heaving a little sigh more for effect than anything else, he studied Yohji with a slightly amused expression of an adult who had to deal with an stubborn, angry child. Yohji immediately disliked that expression. Maybe because it was a bit too justified for his own liking. Giving him an unreadable look, Crawford continued "But you don't understand that, do you? You don't want to understand. For you it's easy. You just have say a few sentences, and you're welcomed wherever you are. You can't understand how it feel to be chased through the streets or when people are throwing things after you, without you having done anything wrong to them. "

Now he was definitely amused. "Like you, none of us _wanted_ to become killers. But we are." For a moment angry green eyes met amber-brown ones, fighting a silent battle. Crawford won. After another moment of silence, Yohji lowered his eyes, mumbling "Gomen." Crawford shook his head, smirking. "For what? Certainly not just because you said the truth."

Turning, he gave Aya a firm glance. "I'll leave you now, Weiß." As he passed by Aya he added in a lowered voice. "As you see I've redirected my choice." With that he went to leave the room.

He didn't go far before he felt a familiar tingle at his mental shields.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Hey Farf! Are you sure he's here?"

Halting the car in front of the building, Schuldig gave the white-haired man on the passenger seat a doubtful look. Due to sheer dumb luck he had run into the psycho while checking on one of their substitute bases, or, like Schuldig had entitled them, one of their Rattenlöchern [1]. 

All he had got out of Farf was something of child-Crawford playing with little kittens and Nagi not being where he should. Not to tell that the nosy telepath had immediately teamed up with the Irishman on his search. Mumbling something what Schuldig assumed was a ´yes´ in his mother tongue, Farfarello started to climb out of the Germans red car.

"But-! Farf! That's the Weiß headquarter!"

"Shop."

"What?"

"It's a shop."

"Sheesh, Farf, I _know_ that it's a shop. Shop or base, that's Jacke wie Hose [2]! Its Weiß´!" 

Seemingly confused, the albino stopped in front of the closed shop, regarding the locked door with a puzzled look. "Will you finally listen?!" Catching up with him, Schuldig glared at the albino, not caring if that it was totally fruitless with Farfarello or not. He didn't like to be ignored. _´Good thing that the shop's closed.´_ Having Farf storming in there and wanting to play was the last thing he needed right now.

He decided to give it another try; though, it was hard to get something into the crazy Irish's skull if he didn't want it in there. 

"Farf, that's Weiß. We're looking for the chibi and Crawfish." Farfarello nodded. "Yeah. He's inside." Clutching a hand to his aching head, Schuldig suppressed the involuntary urge to sigh and try to shake some sense into that crazy nutcase. _´A~lright. Let's try it with a different way.´_

Lowering his hand, he stared directly into Farfarello's single amber eye, though he kept himself from trying to get the information simply from Farfarello's mind. He wasn't _that_ desperate right now, although it wouldn't take long anymore. 

"All right, once again from the beginning. You're saying that Crawford's inside there." Farfarello nodded. "With Weiß." Again a nod. "And he has sent you to go check on Nagi, but you found me." "Yes." "Then I have just one question…" The albino tilted his head in a questioning manner. "How the fucking heck did you get inside there?! The door's locked! Did you grow wings and flew over the wall or what?!" 

Farfarello tilted his head a bit more, seemingly contemplating about what was upsetting his redhead companion that much. Schuldig gave him an exhausted look. "So?" "I broke the window." "Where?" "Garage." "And how did you get into the garage?" The redhead German sounded slightly annoyed by now. "By car."

"By car?! Farfie, I honestly doubt that they would ever let you park inside their garage, even if you'd ever learn how to drive!" Non the less he checked the mind patterns of the people inside the house. There were really five. Four he recognized as the members of Weiß and one was hooded, with mental walls thick enough that he'd nearly missed it. 

Schuldig froze. He knew those walls! There was just one person strong enough to close his mind from him by sheer willpower. _´Crawford´_. Starring disbelieving at Farfarello, he said dumbfounded. "You're right. He's there." Right at that moment the door behind him opened.

"Of course he's right."

Surprised by that answer, Schuldig whirled immediately around, expecting to see the tall American standing right behind him. There was nothing. Somebody cleared his throat. Schuldig looked down. And jumped back in surprise.

A not so good idea to do, like it seemed. Slipping on something on the ground, Schu lost his balance and landed rather graceless on his rear end. 

"C-Crawford!!" 

Right in front of him was standing nobody else than the stiff American, seemingly unperturbed about his unwanted funny interlude. Schuldig stared disbelieving at the person in front of him. That was definitely Crawford, no doubt ´bout that, but his shape! The American had kept his looks, but he seemed to be at approximately Nagi's age. 

Instead of the stiff, tall man who towered even the German easily about an head, he was facing a slight, rather small looking teen with short black hair and some unruly bangs hanging into his unconcealed, amber-brown eyes. Schuldig blinked. Crawford wasn't wearing his glasses. Also, his eyes seemed…less narrow, a bit easier too read maybe, thought the American had never been easy to read, and it still was nearly impossible. The German honestly didn't knew how describe them; anyway, something seemed to have changed inside them. 

"B-Braddy?!?"

__

´Great, really clever thing said there…´ Reaching out his mind, Schuldig carefully touched the boy in front of him. _´Crawford…?´_ A slight smirk crept over the kid's mouth, obviously being amused at the Germans loss of words _´Höchstpersönlich.´_ [3]

He bowed down, stretching a hand out to help him back up. "Do you want do sit more on your lazy ass, or will you come with us trying to get our fourth man back alive?" Standing up by himself, Schuldig shot him a puzzled look. Still smirking, Crawford reacted in his own, unique way by dropping his shields enough to let the mind reader see what he had seen in his vision. With a certain amusement he watched how all the color drained out of the redhead's face.

"Scheiße!"[4]

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Ken watched the reunion of the Schwarz members with mixed feelings. _´These are the guys I've though of as our worst enemies until now…´ _

"What should we do now, minna? If they're just playing that to us, than they can go and name themselves for the next Oscar awards, if you ask me."

Looking also irresolute himself, Omi nodded slowly. "They seem to mean it serious…" 

Yohji snorted at that comment, but stayed silent beside of that.

Even Aya looked thoughtful, as far as the soccer player could tell. 

"What should we do now, Aya? 

…! 

Aya!"

The redhead was heading directly at Schwarz!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

When Aya reached them, they seemed to be caught up in a rather heated discussion. Or rather, Crawford and Schuldig seemed that way. Farfarello was standing next to the car, directing his one-sided glance once to the one, then to the other of his team members. As soon as Aya had left the shop, it had fixed on a spot on his throat, reawakening rather unpleasant memories of a knife there, in the redhead.

"- No, I definitely won't let you drive and search for Nagi's mind pattern at the same time."

"And what do you want to do against it?! Kind am Steuer?![5] Every policeman in that fucking city will be after our asses! Or do you want to give Farfie a quick-course in steering a car?"

Their quarrel stopped as Aya reached them. Schuldig sucked in his breath with a hissing sound, but before the Schwarz redhead could do anything, Crawford stepped forward, bringing his own body between the two. He was all professional cool once again. "What do you want?"

Inclining his head in direction of the car, Aya asked. "You have problems?" "What should you ca-!" Schuldig was cut off by Crawford's answer. "Slight problems with the choice of the driver." Schuldig gaped wide-eyed at him. That wasn't going to take the way he was thinking it was going, was it?!

"Then I will drive you."

Schuldig nearly fell out of his shoes at that offer. _`Tell me that that's no true…´_ Right then, to his eternal shock, Crawford accepted Abyssinians offer. Before he could voice any protest, they had already climbed into the car, Aya on the driver seat while Crawford had settled on the passengers seat next to him. Squeezing himself next to Farfarello on the back seat, he whined. "But Crawford! You can't possibly -!" "I've already done it."

Green eyes narrowed in frustration._ `But Braddy! You can't let him seriously-! He's Weiß! My poor baby…!´_ Turning, the American shot him an equally annoyed glare, saying mentally. _´Shut up and start searching for Nagi! We don't have much time.´_ The German clapped his mouth shut. He'd nearly forgotten the chibi. Concentrating, he opened his mind, searching for the feeling of the little telekinetic's thoughts. _´Brad…That doesn't looks good. Either he's unconscious or sleeping.´ ´Keep searching_.´ Some moments passed. "Got him!"

"Tell the way." 

"Yeah, yeah… shut up, you're not the leader here." None the less Schulding, started giving the Japanese redhead the directions until they arrived at a run-down building in the business area, which seemed to be old but still used.

When they left the car, Aya went with them in such a self-evident way that it seemed as if the redhead had planned on doing this the whole time. 

Giving him a confused glance, Schuldig replaced the mental link between him and the remaining two members of Schwarz, sending to Crawford. _´You certainly owe me an explanation…. And a damn good one, that is!´_

Like expected, Crawford didn't answer.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Ken watched with mixed feelings as Aya vanished together with Schwarz. _´That couldn't have been planned, could it?´_ What if Yohji had been right after all and Schwarz were now having their leader? No, he mustn't believe that! He had to trust Brad, right? He wouldn't do something like that.

Next to him, Yohji started moving. "Let's go!" "Huh?" "We're following them!" None of the remaining two members of Weiß had any objections with that, and they soon reached the building where Schwarz had left their car in front of. 

Readying their weapons, they carefully entered. First they had no problems, seeing as Aya, Crawford, Schuldig and Farfarello had been taking the same way just a few minutes before. Their luck ended as they reached a locked door on the first floor, which was impossible to be broken open.

While Yohji was lowly cursing working on the lock and Omi helping him, Ken let the ray of his pocket light wander. Somehow, this building was giving him the creeps. The ray halted when it came to rest on a couple of white pants.

"Having a bit problems here, huh, kitties?"

Everyone turned his attention at the smirking redhead at that statement. "Schuldig?" ´_What is he making here?´_ Wasn't he supposed to be with Aya and the others? The person in front of them sniffed shortly and readied his gun. 

"Allow me to solve your problem."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter 13

[1] Rathole – meant is a _really_ dilapidated, shabby apartment.

[2] ´it's as jacket as trouser´, literally translated. A pun, like, that's six of one and half a dozen of the other.

[3] in person

[4] Shit!

[5] child on the wheel? – another pun. Originally its ´woman's driving´, meaning that that just _can_ go wrong.^^*

Whee~sh! Finally done. Sorry that the chap's so long but a rabid Nagi fangirl made me not to stop before at least trying to save the chibi. ^_^* So, Naoe-chan, hope you´re happy now.^.^

About the Porsche…I didn't forget it. Delayed doesn't mean forgotten. *grins manically* 

Great thanks for reviewing to: Blue6-Blood6J6, Snickerdoodle, Kyra, Blume, Sirogane, Shuo Ri, newtypewshadow, Naoe aka Ryuke-chan, S.Wing, Yami no Tenshi, Stuntcat, Inkino, PinkSpider, Yaoi King, P-Chanmisao and C.M Aeris Queen of Insanity. Wish you all a happy new year!^_^

PS: The next chapter will be more fun, promise!

PPS: Didn't I say to wait for the next chapter before killing me?! 

PPPS: Review, bitte? ^.^


	14. 14 disastrous mixup's or: whom are you ...

Disclaimer: _If_ I'd own them, then.......*wolfish grin*   All other notes at the end of the chapter.

/ telepathy/, 

_´thoughts´_

**What he certainly hadn't planned**

Chapter 14

"… He should be somewhere here.." The redhead German stopped slowly, wearing a bewildered expression. 

Behind him, Crawford, Aya and Farfarello also came to a halt. Schuldig was now definitely confused. Taking a few steps first in one, then in another direction, he let his eyes wander. Until now the redhead had been leading them, using his telepathic powers to find their missing member like a dog would use his fine nose. Just that the telepath was far more efficient.  But now it seemed like he'd lost his trail. Stopping his pacing, Schuldig finally shook his. "I've lost him." 

Both, he and the pale-haired psychopath eyed Crawford with a questioning look, seemingly expecting him to present them a reasonable explanation for that fact. First, the rejuvenated clairvoyant didn't seem to be going to answer their silent question. Instead, he started slowly walking down the deserted corridor, absently passing his hand over each door he passed. After the third door he stopped. "You're getting blocked. Check how many people are in the building." 

"What?" Schuldig stared wide-eyed at the Oracle. Somebody who should be able to block _him_? He couldn't imagine that. None the less he did what the American had said. Jade-green eyes widened for a fleeting moment in surprise before his usual smirk crept over his face. /Guess what, Braddy, you're right. There are really some other persons here./ Grinning at the other redhead, which had stayed silent till now, he projected a thought into Abyssinian's head. /Seems like our kittens were missing their dear leader./

Aya's violet eyes widened at the foreign presence in his head. Obviously he didn't like the unasked invasion of his head. /Get out./ Schuldig's smirk widened at the psychical equivalent of a growl. /Hooo, Aya-chan, I'm scared./ Aya gritted his teeth, resisting the wish to simply attack the annoying German. Crawford watched silently as Schuldig's grin widened more and more until it resembled a Cheshire cat's, as Aya's annoyance was obviously growing. It was refreshing to not be the object of the telepath's teasing for once. Though, following the look Aya was giving Schuldig by now, the American decided that it would be a better idea to stop the German before the Weiß leader decided to forget their momentary truce and tried to shi-ne Schuldig. 

Directing his mind at Schuldig, he thought. /Is there somebody else besides them?/ The German redhead stopped for a moment from his picking on the Japanese one, to reply. /No. Nagi should be, if the kid hasn't suddenly learned to teleport himself./ He paused, his eyes narrowing in a susceptive manner. /Why? Did you see more, furchtloser Anführer?[1]/ Crawford just shook his head, ignoring the redhead's try to get a reaction out of him. /Not really…/ 

Now Schuldig was serious again. The fact the American was acting like that was a sure indicator that the pre-cog was suspecting some sort of hook somewhere. As much as Schuldig despised his stiffness he'd grown to appreciate Crawford's sixth, (or was it already his seventh?), sense for upcoming danger. Even without his useful power the Oracle seemed to sense any traps from far. If Crawford said that there was somebody else in the building than it there most likely was. And it wasn't only Crawford, as he noted, but Farfarello also seemed to be a bit more restless than usual. 

That was proof enough for him. Crawford alone might be wrong, but if the sensitive albino also felt it… He quickly re-checked the present mind-patterns. _´Okay. There are Crawford, Farfie, Fujimiya, … Kudou, Hidaka, Tsukiyono…-!´ He inhaled loudly. _

There, faint but definitively there, were two other persons. They had some sort of mental shielding against telepathic invasions, but alone they were far too weak to make him overlook them like that. ´Looking´ a bit closer, he felt a familiar patter in them. A pattern, he recognized immediately, no matter how many years had passed since the last time. _´Shit.´_

He gave the clairvoyant a troubled look. /Braddy..?/  

The American met his eyes with a determined, calm, grim expression. "Sleepers creepers?" The German telepath nodded in a choppy way, now definitive paler than just a few moments ago. "´xactly." Aya and Farfarello exchanged bewildered glances. Obviously the albino was as clueless as himself. _´Something between Brad and Mastermind?´ Half to his surprise the brighter redhead didn't use his confusion, (or what the thought could be taken as indicating), to immediately annoy him even more. Instead Schuldig seemed to be honestly troubled and maybe even a bit scared. The troubled expression was soon replaced with anger. "Brad, if they've just touched the kid, then, I swear, I'll-!" _

The Oracle turned, his usual calm expression having returned on his face, and sized his redhead team-mate with a unreadable look. If Aya hadn't known better, he'd say that it looked as if the precognitive was trying to judge how strong the German was as an opponent. It was hard to read Brad if he didn't want you to. "I know. Keep calm Schuldig, we don't know what other talents are around." Aya's eyes widened at that comment. _´Other talents?´_ Managing his temper, Schuldig still couldn't do other than give Crawford an extremely worried look. The redhead remembered all too clearly the dangerous creatures and the fear they had been struck into them back in Rosenkreuz. A bit of it stuck still into his bones. /I'd have thought that they would never leave Rosenkreuz./ 

/Me too./, Crawford sent back to him, accompanied with a mental smirk. /As it seems we were both wrong./ The telepathic redhead grimaced at that. /I honestly wish I had your sense of humour./ This time the answering smirk was a real one. Sometimes the American's grim gallows humour was a bit _too_ grim for his liking.

Seemingly unconcerned about the German's uneasiness, Crawford turned to Aya and Farfarello. "Like expected this turns out to be a trap. Nagi's the bait to get all of us at once. We won't make it that easy for them." "Seven with a single strike, huh?" Unimpressed with the sarcastic tone of Schuldig's comment, Crawford continued. "The rest of Weiß is also here. They're facing one of them right now. Because of that we will split. Schuldig and Farfarello," He moved his hand into the direction of the doors, "You continue to look for Nagi. Their shields shouldn't be far too strong. Aya and I," He stepped to stand next to aforesaid redhead, "will go and distract them. They shouldn't be strong enough to keep their shields up while fighting." He paused for a moment to make sure that everybody understood. 

/Schuldig/ The redhead nearly jerked at the whispered voice in his mind. /Ja Crawford?/ The now small American, -it was hard for the redhead to get himself adjusted to that fact-, wasn't looking at him, but instead leading the Weiß kitten away. /Be ready for my sign./ /…Alright./

Waiting until the two had gotten out of sight, Schuldig sighted slightly and motioned for Farfarello to follow him. "Come on Farf! Seems like we're going to have to check each one of those doors." 

_´Since when's stiff Crawford calling Abyssinian by his first name?´_ Involuntarily a smirk that would make a Cheshire cat turn green with envy, spread over his face at those thoughts. _´Seems like I'll have to do some mind-checking later.´_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Aya was still unsure about what to think of what he had heard. Not really sure about how to ask, he silently followed Brad through countless, always the same looking corridors. Though, he was quite sure that they hadn't come this way, it was hard to tell. Those corridors really looked absolutely identical. _´A sheer labyrinth.` Slightly he wondered how they were supposed to find their way out again after this. If it was up to him, then they wouldn't. Interesting that Brad didn't seem to have any problems with it. _´Probably he's using his talent…´ __

Nevertheless Aya didn't like this. And what were those things that had scared Schuldig that much? Brad also seemed affected…Feeling the redhead's uneasiness, Brad slowed down a bit, allowing Aya to catch up to him without trouble. Waiting for the redhead to go next to his side, he said in a casual manner. "You want to know what's going on." 

Aya blinked at him for a moment, surprised that the Oracle had read him that easily. "Hai." A thin-lipped smirk appeared on the American youth's lips. "I'd like that, too." Aya couldn't keep himself from giving Brad a wide-eyed look. "You don't know?" Still smirking, Brad slightly shook his head. "Not really." He grinned at Aya, who had risen one of his eyebrows. "Appearances are deceptive. And I didn't want to rattle Schuldig even more."

"He seems…" Aya didn't know how to best describe the way the telepath had looked. "…afraid." Crawford nodded, concentrating on finding the right way once again. "I wouldn't be surprised if he is." He paused for a second, seemingly trying to decide which way they should take. Turning right, he continued. "After all he nearly became one of them, once." 

That caught Aya's interest. By now, the redhead had already given up on trying to memorize the way they were taking for their way back. He'd simply have to trust Brad on this one. In the back of his mind, Aya realized with slight surprise how easy it was for him to accept his dependence on Brad. Shouldn't he be more disturbed, seeing as Brad was actually a member of Schwarz? But he wasn't. Somehow he simply knew that he could trust Brad on this. Directing his mind back at the problems, speak enemies at hand, which they were going to face, he gave the smaller black-haired boy an inquiring look. 

"I don't think that there's a really name for what they are. Back in Rosenkreuz we used to call them Sleepers creepers. A useless attempt to play the fear of them down, if I think about it. Have you ever heard of the term ´Sleeper´?" Aya nodded. "Agents or soldiers who infiltrate their opponents' rows." Crawford nodded in approval. "Exactly. They can stay for years that way, and as soon as they get their sign, they turn into perfect little weapons. Our sleepers were nearly the same. They could be anyone. One of your roommates, your best friend, the guy you met at the corridor once…. anyone. And it could change over night." He looked at Aya, a strange expression in his golden-brown eyes that the redhead couldn't place.

"Do you know how it is? To have to ask yourself every time when one of your friends leave you for just a few minutes ´Is he still my friend? Or just another one of their puppets?' They were the strongest weapons against us students. With them they took away the ability for us to trust." He paused for a moment, chuckling lightly at some unknown memory. It didn't sound all too amused. "The problem is that one can't distinguish between one who _was_ turned and one who wasn't, unless you happen to be a telepath or empath."

Aya frowned slightly, compensating what he had just heard. "…´Turned´?" "Another nickname. Meant were those who where ´mentally re-adjusted´. Like brainwashed, just worse. They're made to like what they do, if you know what I mean."

Aya nodded silently. He didn't feel like talking after what he'd heard. ´_Kami-sama…´  None the less he murmured. "Like puppets with a soul." Brad nodded solemnly. "More like programmed robots. –They can make their own decisions. Like robots which happen to be built out of the bodies of peoples you know." _

Aya shuddered inwardly at those words. Brad's voice had taken a far off tone, as if he was remembering something. "You knew one?" Crawford glanced surprised at him, his eyes slightly widened with amazement. Then he nodded. "Mm, I did. Knew and killed, that is." Amber-brown met again with purplish violet, both looks at the same time hooded and understanding. "It was my duty as a friend." 

"…And Schuldig-?" 

"He had more luck than brain, back then. He knows that, too." 

This time Aya really shuddered. Which disgusting bastard was sick-minded enough to do something like that? Making friends kill each other…! No wonder that Schwarz had turned on them. Aya decided to ask Omi to do some research on, how had Brad called it? Rosenkreuz? when they got back. At that moment, Brad suddenly stopped. For a second he stared at something only he could see, the next he shouted "Duck!" pushing Aya away from the wall. 

Just in time to prevent the redhead from being buried under it. Still crouching on the floor, Aya could hear a faint chuckle. Looking up, his sharp eyes focused on a barely visible form of somebody standing on the other side of the corridor. The figure chuckled lightly, openly amused over their reactions to his attack. "What a pity. I actually planned to hit."

Taking a few steps forward, Aya could see for the first time their attacker. A young man, probably soon to be in his twenties, with short blond hair and amused dancing dark eyes. Definitely no Asian origin, as Aya noted. He was approximately as tall as Ken, though by far not as muscular as the ex-soccer player. Rather thin and wiry, he didn't seem like much of an opponent. Next to him Brad changed into a fighting stance. "I hope you're ready for a little brawl."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Allow me to solve your problem."

Yohji whirled around at the sound of the voice, just to see the grinning redhead aim a gun at his face. Reacting with the speed of light, the tall blonde threw himself to the side, pulling the startled smaller one with him. The bullet ricochet of the metal of the door without inflecting any harm. The redhead laughed again, pushing to coloured sunglasses he was wearing up with one finger. All in all, he looked very amused with all of this.

Yohji growled. He'd known that they couldn't trust Schwarz! Schuldig laughed and aimed his gun again. – And gasped in shock as a couple of metal claws slashed through the white fabric of his coat, tearing it open. Just incredibly fast reflexes saved the flesh under it from suffering the same fate. Jumping out of Ken's reach, the redhead didn't smirk anymore. Actually he looked quite annoyed. 

"MY COAT! You ruined it!! Did you know how expensive that thing was?!"

Grimacing at the torn front of the garment, the psychic glared at them. Slipping the sunglasses off his nose, he pocketed his gun, never stopping to glare the whole time. Yohji blinked surprised. Weren't Schuldig's eyes green? Nah, that had to be his imagination. 

"That was the finest bleached leather you shredded! How do you think to make up for that?!" The redhead took the coat of, his movements giving away that he was rather annoyed. 

"That was my favourite coat kitty!" Angry blue eyes glared at the brown-haired culprit. Pocketing her gun, their attacker smirked nastily. "Actually, I intended to make it quick, but for that you will suffer!" 

With that he lunged at him. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Stiller laughed silently. That was really too easy! It was truly a piece of cake for the blond telekinetic to keep his two opponents at bay. 

"You're making it too easy for me. Please make no allowances for this humble one just because I'm still inexperienced."

The friendly expression never vanished from his lips, even when he blocked the slash of the katana-wielding redhead. It had been quite a pleasant surprise for Stiller to see him brandish the sword. –He'd heard amazing things about those Japanese swords and was very happy to see somebody who knew how to fight with one. Sorrowfully for the redhead, who had violet eyes as Stiller had noted with surprise, it turned out the telekinetic had no troubles stopping his blows and smashing him against the next wall. Several spots where the corridor's walls were missing plaster were silent evidences for that. 

None the less, the black-clothed assassin kept attacking Stiller, despite his now injured state. 

"Oops." Smiling he evaded a fist attack, which elsewhere would have rendered him unconscious if it had hit. He mustn't forget the kid, which had turned out to be a bit more difficult enemy to fight. Though looking rather weak, the black-haired youth was pretty fast and his hits were good aimed. Also he was quite strong for his slim frame. 

Though what was actually problematic for Stiller, was that the boy kept dodging all of his attacks. _´He even dodges my telekinetic blasts´_, the blonde barely evaded a katana-slash, _´Ah, but Jilocasin has said something about a precognitive.´. His smile returned. So that boy was the precog they were supposed to get. How exciting. _´It turns out to be harder than I thought.' __

Crawford and Aya had synchronized their attacks by now, Aya distracting the telekinetic and Brad attacking him then out of his dead angle. –Probably the only efficient tactic against someone with telekinetic powers. Nonetheless, it wasn't looking too good for them. Aya already was having problems moving, due to several painful slams against the wall and Brad also, though not hit, was slowly running out of breath. 

It was obvious that they couldn't keep their tactic up very long anymore. A fact which was making their attacks just the more fierce, as Stiller noted good-mindedly. He decided to put it to an end slowly. He couldn't keep the others wait, after all, could he? 

"Sorry."

With that, he telekinetically took hold of the redhead and smashed him against the wall again, this time not loosing his grip on him after the impact. Instead he raised it even more until the pain was visible in the redhead's face, using this brute technique to break every bone in the other's body. Just as he was sure to hear the redhead's bones already creak in protest, the little black-headed boy attacked him again, landing a good hit in his face. Taken aback for a second, Stiller released his hold of the redhead, letting him drop to the ground in the process. 

His shock didn't last long. Nearly the same second the kid landed on his feet, an invisible force already swept him from his feet and slammed him against the next wall with a sickening crash. The boy slid unconscious to the floor. 

"Brad!!" 

Brushing over his tormented jaw, Stiller made the same with the attacking redhead, though it sounded even more awful this time. A carefree smile plastered on his face again, the telekinetic turned to go. "Oh! It's getting late. – If I don't hurry the others will be angry with me. ^^" 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Ken couldn't do anything else than to stare at the lunging redhead, totally baffled. With the coat gone, the brunette could see that the ´He´ was actually a ´**s**he´! The person was a girl! The claw-wielding assassin was lucky that Omi reacted in time, throwing his darts and spiking her arm before she could ram a hinged knife into him. 

Instead of dropping her knife, the woman just stopped, regarding the projectiles in her arm with mild interest. She grabbed one and plucked it out. Letting it clatter on the floor, she reached for the next one, continuing this until she had plucked out all of them. Raising her bleeding arm, she grinned.

"Nice." 

Suddenly Omi clenched his right arm with a gasp, nearly dropping to the ground. She gave him a questioning look. "Does that hurt?" 

Ken had suddenly a sick feeling in his stomach. This reminded him of the time when he and Omi had fought Farfarello in that church. Back then their attacks had also been useless. _´She, too, can't feel pain?!´_ Briefly he wondered why Yohji wasn't reacting. The answer was simple. 

The blond playboy had fallen on his knees, clutching his chest while his features were distorted with pain. Next to him, Omi also suddenly collapsed. The redheaded woman laughed slightly, a feral grin having appeared on her face. 

"Looks like only we two are left."

She stepped closer and Ken backed away. He didn't know what she had done, but he wouldn't let her get him that easily. The redhead chuckled. "A cautious one, aren't we?"

Her grin turned into a sneer. "That I like! First ripping a lady's coat into shreds and then being too cowardly to face the consequences!" A soaring pain suddenly shook Ken's body, his eyes going blank for a second. _´What?! She hasn't even touched me!´ _

Raising the brunette's pain with each step, the woman advanced slowly. "You non-talents are so pitiful." Her voice had turned all purring. Grabbing a fistful of Ken's hair, the redhead seized his head up with a rough jerk. "Time to end this. Bye-bye darling." With these words she concentrated once again, sending a pain through the three assassins' heads that was hard enough to knock them out instantly. 

Letting go of Ken's hair, Kitten watched him uncaring as he landed on the ground. "Ph. Waste of time." Absentmindedly, she wondered if Stiller had a similarly easy game. "I really don't get why they're making such a fuss about them."

Before the bored empath could hurt the three members of Weiß a bit more, a voice that wasn't her own spoke in her mind. /Jilocasin?/ Her annoyance at the disturbance could be heard. The telepathic leader of her group immediately answered, sounding as unconcerned as always. /What are you doing Kitten?/ The young, redhead woman frowned /I was just about to play a bit with them./ 

A mental frown accompanied his answer. /As much as I can tell, they're already unconscious./ /So? They thought that I was a guy! I'm not _that_ flat. (mental pout)/ A sigh. Kitten grinned slightly. /We don't have time to waste. Memoire says that Stiller is going to die soon. Take care of that./ Their mental link dissolved. 

Kitten's grin widened. The fly swatter was going to die? Sounded interesting.  

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Somewhere else in the building, Schuldig grimaced. "This building's a fuckin' maze!" That already was the twentieth room they checked and there still was no sign of the small telekinetic. This was really getting on his nerves! 

Pulling an annoyed face, the redhead called. "Yoo-hoo. Nagi! Nagi-lein[2]! Where are you?" Getting no answer, he shut the door he was peeking into and proceeded to the next one. "Chibi!" Nothing. He hated that! Naturally continuing to scan their surroundings, Schuldig still couldn't feel any other presences near them. That Farfarello was just trotting after him and staring holes into the air was also not helping. 

"Fuck! Farf! Help me search for the chibi, will you!?!" 

The white-haired madman just shrugged at his outburst and opened nonchalantly another door. "He's not in there." Schuldig gritted his teeth. That situation was irritating him. A lot. "That's great Farfie. That just leaves another two hundredfourtythree possibilities left." Farfarello shrugged his shoulders. 

_´God! I swear he does that deliberately!´,_ Schuldig checked the next room. Again nothing. Surprise, surprise. Well, to be honest, he couldn't blame the pale Irishman. Not at all, that is. It really wasn't his fault that those creepers had shown up. Schuldig shuddered slightly, remembering the blank feeling from when he'd entered their mind. As if he'd managed to get into the mind of a corpse. _´Wonder why Crawford's  taking so long…´_

Actually, the German didn't have good feeling about this at all. Deciding that it would be better to check onto the American once in a while, he let his mind wander. He nearly missed him. To what the German could make out, the clairvoyant was barely holding onto consciousness. _´Shit! I knew something was wrong!´_

Concentrating on their mental link, Schuldig asked. /Brad! Everything O.K.? Brad! Hey, Braddy!!/ /Don't call me that./ The answer was low, but it was there. Schuldig let out a sigh of relief. /Great fuck, Crawford. Don't scare me like that. I already thought you were crossing the Jordan! (Does that pun even exist in English? ^^;) / A dry mental laugh echoed through their link. /Don't celebrate something before it has happened./ A slight grin crept over Schuldig's face. /Who told you that I was going to celebrate? Anyway, not that I want to rush you, but how long are you two still going to need?/ A short pause followed his question, indicating to the German that the other was seriously considering it. 

Suddenly a strange sensation tickled Schuldig's mind, which made the little hairs on his neck standing on end. It wasn't really a thought or something –more like some kind of feeling, even creepier than what he had sensed in the Sleepers' minds. It would be probably best described like the absolute calm in the centre of a tornado. One wrong move and everything would get ripped apart. It was like that. /Crawford…?/ The precog still didn't answer. Schuldig could literally feel the situation the others were in heating up. _´Something bad's gonna happen.´ A single word broke through the silence which had been filling their connection. _

/_NOW!/ _

Literally feeling that _something_ was happening, Schuldig spread his mind's fine net out as far as possible. _´That's strange…. There's Abyssinian – very weak, the sleepers must've landed quite a good hit…´ He frowned slightly. That wasn't a good sign. Abyssinian injured and down meant that Crawford was doing whatever he did alone. No good chances for the American. He could use some help…_

Searching farther, his eyes widened. The rest of Weiß was down too – And the second Creeper right on the way to Oracle! /Crawford-!!/  "…!" Schuldig gasped. Instead of the calm spot which marked the American's mind normally, there was something else now. Something that shocked the telepath too much to dive any further. Stiff mental walls, thick enough to keep even the nosiest telepath out, had vanished, giving place to an all-devouring maelstrom of feelings. It was as if looking straight into the centre of a black hole, beautiful and appalling at the same time. _´Deadly.´ That was the only thing that came into the German's mind that could describe it. Feeling a faint pull at his mental self, Schuldig froze._

Farfarello watched silently as Schuldig suddenly clutched his head with a scream and dropping on the floor. Green eyes widened frightened as the realized what was happening. _´He's trying to pull me in!'_ Schuldig knew that he wouldn't have a chance to return to his body, should that happen. Collecting all his strength, he screamed at the American. /No! Braddy! It's me!! Stop!! Stop!!!/  For a moment, he thought that it didn't work. Then, suddenly, the familiar mental shields snapped up again, catapulting the redhead's mind with a jerk back to his body. 

Gasping, Schuldig waited on the floor until his raging heartbeat had calmed down to a normal rate again. "Great god….!" Ignoring the problems that he was probably getting into with Farfarello for saying that loud, Schuldig stood up hastily, letting his mind wander again, searching for Nagi's familiar mind patterns. He had luck. Whatever Crawford was doing, it was enough to lower the mental blockade of those things. "I found him." Announcing this, Schuldig sped in the direction he had located his younger team-mate, Farfarello hot on his heels.

_´I never thought that those shields weren't for keeping me out, but for keeping him _in_!'_ Schuldig suppressed a shudder and concentrated instead on finding the telekinetic.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford had had luck. By a chance coincidence he hadn't been hit half as strong as he'd expected, so the American had just been out for a few seconds. 

Just enough to make the other believe that he'd beaten him. 

Bad luck for him.

Being confident in his powers, Stiller didn't even react when he heard the small rustling of clothes. When a hard blow hit the back of his head, he hadn't any more time to react. 

Bradley Crawford smiled as the blond telekinetic hit the floor, droplets of blood staining his until-then pristine outfit.

Really. Bad luck for him.

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Even though Kitten had been running the whole distance, she knew immediately that she was too late. 

Spreading out in front of the shocked redhead, was a scene that could've been very good from one of those crazy painters who drew paintings of hell. The walls of the corridors were totally smashed, heavy chunks of plaster having been broken at several parts, the floor was covered with white dust and pieces of the wall and most of the few doors there were smashed as well. Absentmindedly noting that that was probably rather the telekinetic's doing, Kitten stepped nearer carefully. 

The tumours of feelings she'd received right before taking the last turn were enough to warn her what was going to come. Still, it hadn't really helped. Out of the corner of her eye, Kitten noticed a formerly black-clad (now it was covered with white dust) figure lying half-covered with plaster at the back of the corridor. Kitten doubted that he was ever going to stand up again. _'Seems like Stiller had his fun.' _

A low snicker directed her attention to the other inhabitant of the corridor. Halfway in front of her was Stiller, _´Or what was Stiller'_ a sarcastic little voice in her head remarked. And right behind him was nobody else than their main target, Kitten immediately realized. 

At the sight of her, the slim black-haired teen had stopped chuckling, though an eerily feral grin still adorned his features. His hand, which held a still-sheathed sword twitched slightly. Kitten regarded it without emotion. Though still sheathed, blood was dripping from the hilt to the floor, mingling with the slowly growing wider splotch on the floor. It was easy to tell that it wasn't the boy's. 

Blank gold-brown eyes fixated on her face as a slight grin spread over the woman's lips. "Nice club." The boy didn't react. He didn't even blink. "Nice hair." Kitten grimaced slightly, knowing very well that it was standing in every direction by now. "So you don't want to make it easy for me?" Her purr was dangerous. The boy still didn't react. "Why should I?"

The only thing that kept Kitten from attacking the insolent clairvoyant, -like Stiller she had informed herself on their targets-, was the strange feelings she got from him, which made her hairs on the neck stand straight into the air. Troubled blue eyes narrowed. Her feeling had seldom fooled her and right now all of her senses were screaming at her that something wasn't right with this boy. She didn't know how right she was, though. 

Stepping over Stiller's body, the boy chuckled again, regarding her with the same emotionless eyes. It was unnerving. "You're unsure. Afraid to attack a mere child or to face the same fate as our friend?" The way he'd pronounced mere child was strange. Kitten growled. "I'm not afraid of _anything_!" Not taking his eyes from her, the boy chuckled again. It sounded haunting. "Not exactly a good attitude for a long life."

Kitten gritted her teeth. "I don't think that that concerns you." A slight smile grazed his lips at that answer. It didn't look pleasant. "Schuldig already announced your coming. Sorrowfully that means that I'll have to distract you a bit, too." A nasty smirk appeared on Kitten's face. "Oh really? " With that she sent a wave of pain at him and watched the slight body flinch with satisfaction. 

She chuckled amusedly. "I hope you'll last longer than your friends." The chuckling stopped abruptly as Crawford joined it, seemingly totally unimpressed with her short display of powers. "Big talk from a mere empath." Blazing blue eyes frowned warningly. Who did that guy think he was? Just a mere low-level precognitive! He could count himself lucky to be regarded as a psychic at all.      

Her expression grim, Kitten gave him another taste of her power. Again Crawford jerked, and then brushed it off like nothing. Her eyes widened. Was he immune to pain?! She tried it a third time. This time the shock was strong enough to make him let go of his sword. Not caring about the weapon on the floor, Crawford started advancing, taking his time with it. Kitten stared with disbelief at the smirking boy, not willing to believe what was happening. His eyes, trained on her like a hunting cat's, made a cold shiver run over her spine. _´Not good. Definitely not good!´_ Suddenly fearing what was going to happen when he reached her, she concentrated all of her power, pushing it directly into his brain. 

He actually went to his knees at that. A smirk spread over her face. _´Got ya, you arrogant asshole!´ Quickly she continued her attack. Crawford chuckled. _

Looking slowly up at the shocked redhead, he asked with an amused voice. "Is that all you can do?" Kitten blanched, realizing that he _was_ able to feel her pain. He just didn't care about it. _´It doesn't matter! It simply doesn't matter!!´_ Feeling cold, she stared at him. A normal human would've died after such an assault. –And he was just amused! She made a step back. The American still smirked at her. "Should I show you what real pain is?"

The empathic concentrated on him, feeling his feelings. It was such an obvious trap. The second Crawford was sure that the redhead empathic would really feel it too, he let down all of his mental blockades and defences, letting all his bottled up emotions soar to life at once. Kitten stumbled, holding her aching head with a gasp. _´No! Not at once! It's too much!_´ Disgust, joy, sadness, the thrill of hunting, the intoxicating feeling of a life-and-death struggle, proud, bitterness, pain and much more filled her skull at once, trying to flood her self out of her body, drown her in all those emotions... Kitten was screaming now. "No!…NO!! Go away! GO AWAY!!!"    

Giving Crawford a look of a hunted animal, she bolted up and tried to punch him. The Oracle evaded with trained ease. Dodging another blow, he whirled around and landed a painful punch into her guts. 

Holding her injured abdomen, Kitten hissed at him like a wounded cat. Crawford smirked inwardly. He'd known that an empath wouldn't be able to stand the feelings of an assassin for long. Still, this situation was not that harmless. 

Even with her powers disabled, that woman was still quite a good fighter. Yet, a fighter had to hit to do any harm. Crawford dodged all of her attempts until she finally backed away again, visibly out of breath. "You…#gasp#…damned….#hff#…monster! I'll….#gasp#…show you!!" Crawford smirked his most bastard smirk at her. 

Her eyes widened. Searching for her gun, Kitten realised with a curse that she'd left it behind with her coat. "Arrr…Darn!!" She spat at the floor. "I'll get you!"

With that she turned and hurried off. Crawford smirked at her attics. Typical empaths. A vision of a furious redhead returning with her gun and the firm determination to shoot him in front of his eyes, he staggered back to Aya. Letting himself flop on the floor next to the redhead, Crawford carefully poked him, trying to wake him as gentle as possible. He sincerely hoped that the Japanese wasn't hurt too much. 

"Hey…Aya. Aya!" The redhead stirred shortly and opened a pair of violet eyes then. Seeing that it was Brad who had woken him, his fine brows furrowed in confusion. Crawford smiled for a second reassuringly at him. "It's alright. They're gone now." A frown crept over his adorable face. "Though I don't know for how long. Can you stand up?" Aya tried it and nodded. "Good. We have to get away from here and that fast."

Standing up, Aya brushed the chalk off his cloak and went to retrieve his katana. Finding it next to the fallen telekinetic, Aya picked it up and turned to give Brad a questioning look. -And frowned. The man turned teen was still kneeling on the floor, watching him with exhausted eyes. "…What's wrong?" Crawford blinked startled, then shook his head. "Schuldig reported that they found Nagi. They're on their way out now." He tried to stand up and winced. The fight with the empathic had gotten to him more than he'd wanted to admit. 

Suddenly a gentle hand placed itself on his shoulder. "Brad…daijobou?" Giving the leader of Weiß a surprised look, Crawford had to keep himself from smiling at him in reassurance. Hell, he was Crawford! He did _not_ smile! None the less something of his emotion seemed to have reached his eyes, for a ghost of a smile hushed over Aya's lips. "I'm alright. Just a bit tired."

Nodding, Aya helped the smaller one up and steadying him with a helping hand. Surprising enough Crawford allowed this without protest. "They're going to pick up the rest of your team on their way out." "Aa." Gesturing at their direction, Crawford said. "Then let's go." If he had looked up that moment, he would have seen the redhead smile an honest, fond smile at his supposed-to-be nemesis as he helped him continue. 

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Here?"

Schuldig nodded, confirming his companion's question and then stepped back. With an exaggerated gesture with both arms, he gestured at the door. "After you."

The albino just nodded and broke the lock. Schuldig beamed. "Why, thank you!" He walked in – just to come tumbling outside again. Farfarello tilted his head quizzically. Schuldig grimaced. "Ha ha ha." He went inside again. Farf watched him fly out again and crash into the wall. Stepping closer to the door, he ducked his head curiously inside. Nagi was there. Seemingly unhurt, he sat on the floor, staring into nothing. Next to him, Schuldig pushed through the door. Seeing the advancing redhead, the small boy let out a cry and boosted him out of the room again. #Crash# Farfarello tilted his head. _´He's hit the wall again.'_

Outside, Schuldig let loose a chore of wild curses. "That stupid kid, what does he think we're doing-? We're here to help you damn it-!"

"He's scared."

"-Eh?"

Schuldig stared at him, his eyes going wide. "Scared of us? Don't be silly, we're his team!" He went in and came flying out once again. "Of you." Schuldig grimaced, still sitting on the floor and rubbing his damaged backside. "You think?" He sounded thoughtful now.

"Alright! Then this way!" Standing up, he approached the door carefully. "Hey, Nagi, chibi…" He smiled reassuringly. "No need to be scared, lil' one. It's just us. Farf and Schu." Nagi stared at him. One minute passed, then two. 

Nothing happened.

"Fuck! Nagi! I'll come in now and get you out and if you try once again to use me as a living bowling ball then I'll blast your mind out, that you won't even know your own name anymore!!"

…

Surprisingly, that worked. Giving a thumb-up sign to Farfarello, Schuldig picked up the small brunette and smirked. "And now let's get the kitties and go!" Farf grinned. 

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Everything went good until they left the building. Noticing that they had somehow managed to leave through the backside entry, Crawford frowned. "That's not good."

If they tried to go to the front entrance, they'd surely be noticed, a thing Crawford would rather avoid. Who knew how many of those guys like the empath and the telekinetic where still inside. Anyway, Brad had had enough action for one day, so he didn't even bother looking in that direction. Next to him, Aya frowned too, his mind taking a similar train of thought as the Oracle's. 

They needed a vehicle. 

Aya grimaced suddenly. As if planned, there _was_ a vehicle, right in front of them. The problem: It was _Ken's_ vehicle. 

A motorcycle. 

None of them could drive it. 

Crawford stared at the same direction. Shortly later the two were standing next to the mechanical monster, eyeing it distrustfully. _´Ken, that klutz.´ The brunette had even left the key in the lock ‑ again. _´ I wait for the day it gets stolen.'_ _

Crawford had also noticed the key. Training his eyes over the machine, a slight smirk tugged on the edge of his lips, promising nothing good. Aya eyed the precog suspiciously. "You don't plan on driving that thing.."

A crooked grin was the only answer he got. "You don't even know how to drive it." Crawford gave him a mischievous look. "Actually, I do." Aya frowned. "I don't believe you. " Brad shrugged merely his shoulders. "A part of the basic training for a field leader. But if you don't want to…" He trailed off. After a few moments of reluctant staring at the machine, the redhead gave in and took his place behind the American. 

"Fine. But Ken won't like it."

Crawford shrugged again, grinning inwardly. Ok, the part about knowing how to drive that thing wasn't completely true. –But it also wasn't exactly a lie! They had talked about it in theory once. Being fully confident in his skills, Crawford moved to start the engine. 

After all, how difficult could it be to drive a bike?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter 14

[1] – fearless leader

[2] -lein or –chen. Means the same as the Japanese –chan.

Wheesh! Finally done! Writing this chapter was quite unnerving on some parts. ^^; But I've made it! Though much late ^^;;. Gomen. 

Well, there'll be probably some questions about the ´second Schu´. 1. Yeah, the empath's a part of the sniper team which is after Schwarz (and now Weiß too). 2. Yup, it's a her. A woman, girl, female. Because of her coat the boy's just didn't notice it first.^^; She also attacked Nagi, posing as Schu. 3. Her name's really Kitten, don't laugh. 

Very well, since all that confusing parts are cleared now (if not, just ask), I can go back searching the net for Weiß.mp3's again. Has anybody seen Crawford's image song Este? I just always hear that it's supposed to be good. And I just can't find it. Waaahh! (Starts wailing) T.T  I already found Schu's though, and it's *breaks down laughing* I first thought that he was singing Japanese!^^ 

Ab-So-Lu-Te great thanks to anyone who has reviewed the last chapter! That's my absolute record!^_^ Meant are you: S.Wing, Yami no Tenshi(thanks for telling^^), Rei Eien( nodds^.^), minko, yuki, Ahhhh!!!, Ryuke-chan (hey, I found the beta-version again!^^), Shuo Ri, Sirogane (glomps for reviewing twice and sorry for taking that long^_^), pink bunny, Blue6-Blood6J6(^.^), Lady Dragon, Snickerdoodle, newtypeshadow, Kyra, Lucifiel, stray cat carya-chan (findest du?^.~), Cayenne (I'll see about it^^), Melanie (glomps for putting me on your fav autor list^_^). Well, that was it for now. ----hope you had fun and will come back again for the next chapter. Driving habits of the species assassins!^^    

Anyhoots, hope you had some fun! Please review!^.^


	15. 15 driving habits of the species assass...

Disclaimer: Gee, I know that you're all knowing what's supposed to be written here. All rights about Weiß Kreuz belong NOT to me. I'm just owning this story and the OC's. Otherwise I'm just messing around with things that aren't mine.

AN: Please take note that I was still in a hyper mode when I wrote this. The team of my school class got third in a tournament and all of the boys of the opposing team were dressed out as drag-queens in the last match. (The one in the frilly evening robe with the short skirt was simply  hilarious! The one with the hot pants and thights was also great…)XD 

Special thanks to Blume and B6-B6j6 for the great help with the songs (you two rock!) and Ryuke for constantly telling me about flying vehicles. Without you I wouldn't have been half as fast!^_^

Okay, you're warned. On with the story!

What he certainly hadn't planned 

Chapter 15

Together, they just needed three attempts to get the motorcycle back up on its wheels again.

It took Crawford a lot more to get Aya to sit on the bike again, though. But being the Oracle, he somehow managed it. Now they were both sitting on it again, and Aya's arms had sneaked softly around Brad's waist, gently resting there. A light blush was tinting the redhead's face, him being awfully aware of the closeness of the other's warm body in front of him. _´Kami-sama!´ Like this, Aya could practically feel the pulse through Brad's sleek frame, with each breath he was taking. Aya just hoped that the black-haired teen wouldn't look back now of all times…_

On the other side, Crawford was having his own problems. Most of them were concerning the inner mechanism of a tuned-up motorbike. _´The right lever's for the gas.´ That much he'd already figured out. Now he just had to find the brake… _

He gave the stubborn vehicle a disgruntled look. If they at least had some protective clothing…. Leather gear, a crash helmet, gloves, something! Hell, he'd be happy if he just had a helmet! Unfortunately, Crawford's luck had left him there. Aya had at least his trench coat. But him… Crawford wasn't really willing to scrape his skin from the road if the unlikely case of him crashing the bike would come true. Well, if he crashed the bike they wouldn't have to worry about something as minor as that anymore, anyway. He was quite sure that their pursuers would make sure on that. _´Useless worrying yourself over something you can't change.´_ With a rough jerk he started the engine. Aya's finger tightened their grip on him considerably. That much to his trust of Crawford's driving skills. Finding your way through a labyrinth-like building was one thing. _This_ was completely different one. 

Inwardly crossing all of his fingers and praying to whomever might hear him, Crawford twisted the right lever slightly. The machine let out a loud howl. Aya's grip became steely. _`Now or never!´ _Kicking the bike's stand away, Crawford could hear Aya letting out a surprised (or scared) yelp as the motorbike darted forward with them. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

When were they finally going to come? Kitten growled slowly under her breath. The constant wait was really getting on her nerves. The redhead woman had gotten her coat and gun back, and was now impatiently waiting for her targets of choice (speaking of Aya and Brad) to come and try to leave the building. _´I can't wait to shoot his fucking ass off.' Though that'd be probably a bit difficult with a pre-cog... For this purpose the empath had chosen a hiding place from where she had an especially good shot.  _

Kitten had been clever enough to figure that the brat and his friend wouldn't just wait for her to return, so she had decided to catch them on their way out. Only problem: They weren't coming!

Glaring and growling at nothing in particular, the hotheaded female stretched her aching muscles. A good hiding place doesn't exactly have to be comfortable for more than five minutes. _´Where a~re you? Come out, come out, so that I can sho~ot you´_, she chanted silently. Kitten wasn't exactly what you'd call a patient person. Rather the opposite. Anyway, she was now fed up with waiting. 

"Damn! Should I come get you?!" Her angry words disappeared unheard in the empty hall. 

Tapping her foot in that typical female, you-came-to-late-to-our-date fashion, Kitten kept glaring holes into the hallway. "Where the fuck are they!?!" 

/Angry, ma chere?/

Kitten stopped short for a moment. /Jilocasin?/ /Who else were you expecting, my kitten?/ Kitten deliberately ignored the French's amused intonation. Jilocasin always sounded amused, so she really couldn't care less. Maybe it was just his French accent. Who knew? 

Right now, other things were more important. 

/Where the @&/%$// are they ?! I'm fed up with waiting!!/ 

On the other side of the 'line', a telepath whose head was still ringing from the volume she used, grimaced. 

/Allons, allons. They're on their way./ He could literally see her lighten up. /Really?!/

/But of course. Have I ever lied to you, my dear friend?/

/Do you want just the list of this year or the longer one?/, came the dry answer. Jilocasin drew a hurt face, though that was pretty ineffective because nobody saw it. The problem of using body language over a mental ´phone´. 

/So are they coming now, or not?/

/They're coming, don't rush yourself that much./ A sour ´hmp!´ was all he got as an answer. Not caring to talk with the telepath any longer, Kitten focused on the hallway again, focusing on her powers. They wouldn't even know what had hit them. An eager smirk crept over her face. And then the brat would pay for what he had done! Ohh, she would make sure of that… Huh? The redhead empath jolted out of her daydreaming. _´What the fu-?!´_

They were coming. Rather quickly, as she noted. The smirk turned into a frown. _´Wait´ Careful so she would not be noticed, Kitten probed the advancing persons with her power. The three non-talents she'd bounced into the floor before were obviously conscious again – Kitten decided to kill them properly the next time-, and two with talents… No, wait! Three – one was just slightly unconscious otherwise. Kitten concluded that it had to be the boy-telekinetic they had used as bait. Frowning a bit more, she intensified her testing. No, not there. The pre-cog brat wasn't with them. _

Not caring for her cover anymore, Kitten cursed loudly (and also rather obscenely too). Somehow the brat had gotten knowledge of what she was planning and had taken a different way! She'd been waiting in vain the whole time!! Kitten cursed again. That bastard! When she got him she'd….! -?! The redhead young woman whirled around as the sudden screech of spinning wheels on the ground became audible. _´A motorbike?´ Blue eyes narrowed. So there they were!_

Forgetting all about the unsuspecting men that were also on her target list, Kitten whirled around and dashed in the direction of the sound. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Well, that wasn't that hard, was it? Barely avoiding ramming them into the next wall, Crawford jerked the bike around and turned the handle a bit more. The machine immediately rewarded him with an especially loud howl and a sharp swerve to the right. Behind him, Aya tightened his grip once again, mumbling a silent prayer. 

Three seconds later, it still seemed as if the American was going to ram them into the next obstacle, but then it quieted. At least they were driving upright and not in some impossible diagonal angle now. Nevertheless Aya made better sure again that he had a proper grip on Brad. Feeling the soft, sleek skin under the American's clothes, the redhead could feel a slight blush tinting his cheeks again. In order not to fall of the speeding bike he'd pressed himself awfully close to the teen, as he now noted. Hell, he'd practically glomped him! He blushed furiously. And yelped as Brad avoided ramming them into the back of a car in front of them by milliseconds. 

Definitely not the right time for getting romantic. Cursing slightly, he readjusted his grip on the black-haired teen. The bike swerved dangerously. 

"Damn it, Aya! Stop that!"    

Surprised that this should be his fault, Aya blinked. "…What?"

"Tickling me! I can't drive like that!!"

Too surprised to properly react, Aya couldn't do anything more than fasten his grip on the Schwarz's abdomen, a small grin forming on his lips despite the situation they were in. Brad snorted. "Squeezing life out of me also won't help." Aya chuckled silently. 

The next minutes passed by in silence, Aya trying to keep still and Brad trying to keep them somehow on the street in one piece. 

During this time Aya came to the conclusion that driving with Brad was extremely dangerous for your life. The way the American kept evading other (remarkably slower) cars was more than nerve-racking and the fact that he kept driving on the median strip - thus, having to evade cars coming from both sides - wasn't exactly helping. Also not to mention that they were surely driving at least twice the speed limit. 

Just when everything was getting pleasant (and Aya really starting to doubt Brad's claim of knowing how to drive such a motorbike), he noticed something. Behind them, still a fair amount of distance away, was another motorcyclist who was as crazy as they. At least his driving technique – he seemed to be doing everything to catch up to them – seemed to indicate this. Aya frowned. Red bike, crash helmet, white somehow torn clothing… That cyclist was somehow familiar. 

"Brad…?"

Without turning (Aya would've hit him if he'd tried to), Crawford nodded. "I now. I've noticed her already by the last turn." Aya's frown deepened. Her? Then it was that look-alike again. She was an empath, who could inflict pain without touching. That wasn't good. They were already endangered enough like this. 

Sorrowfully the other cyclist didn't seem to share his opinion. Letting out a loud yell, she brought her motorbike next to theirs in a brake-neck maneuver. Already suspecting what would be her next action, Aya tightened his grip once again. 

Her bike crashed against theirs seconds later, pushing them sharply aside. 

Brad barely managed to snatch the motorbike in an upright position again, before he jolted them with a wild howl of the engine into a good lead ahead again. Looking back, Aya could hear the pre-cognitive curse. Obviously he had ´seen´ something. 

"Aya!"  

"Yes?"

"When she comes again, hit her!"

"What?!"

"Hit her! With your katana, fists, or something! Just hit her!! She must not manage to tackle us again or we're going to take a free flight into our next life!"

Aya sweatdropped. How the hell was he supposed to hit that bitch without letting go of Brad with at least one hand? No way he'd do that, not even for a million!! _'But if I don't do it, we're both as good as dead!' Worriedly he threw a look over his shoulder only to see the empathic already hot at their heels. Brad had also noticed. _

"Aya!"

K'so! Gritting his teeth, Aya shouted over the soaring air stream, while shifting his weight a bit. "Aa!" Making sure that his hold on the teen was still reliable, Aya looked back, awaiting her attack with flashing eyes. _´Wait…still a bit…still…´ Blazing violets narrowed as the hostile motorbike dived into another attack. Waiting on his perch, the redhead counted the seconds before she got in his reach._

_´Now!´_

Within less than splinter-seconds Aya bent forward and kicked her bike away. 

Both drivers of the bikes cried out in surprise as their vehicles got pushed in different directions. "Are you crazy?!" Aya couldn't help but grin at Brad's hysterical outburst. So he wasn't totally unfazeable. The next moment the smile vanished as the redhead realized that Brad had steered them onto the pavement! Luckily nobody was out at this time of the day. It was less fortunate that there were much more obstacles than on the street. 

"Watch out for the mailbox!"

"Tree!"

"Kami-sama!!"

Crawford drove in slalom around the obstacles, making Aya yelp in shock every four seconds or so and wishing that he'd never gotten onto the bike. In the meantime, their enemy followed them on the road. 

Finally there was a gap from where Crawford could steer them back on the road. Immediately their pursuer was there again, but this time, she didn't try to push them off the road. Instead she tried to knock Aya off his place on the back of the seat! Avoiding her badly-aimed punches, Aya growled. So she wanted a fight? He would give her one!

He kicked her away, just when a driving car was next to them. She fell back, but it didn't stop her. Aya cursed loudly, while Brad in the front tried to stifle a grin. The redhead had finally decided to fight. 

For some time they fought silently, Aya and Brad not only staying in the defensive, but having even started to attack the other cyclist in turn. Where Brad was a daredevil in driving, their pursuer seemed to be a real professional, and it ended up turning into quite a well-balanced fight. Keen on finally ending this tiring battle, Aya got ready for his final strike. He missed. Cursing, the redhead tried to withdraw his leg –and gasped. The strap of his boot had gotten hooked up in the other machine's interior!

Immediately after that he cursed again, this time at Brad, as the Schwarz was trying to steer them away from the hostile bike. "What?" The teen sounded a bit unnerved. Aya didn't care. At the moment he was busy trying to avoid being tugged from the motorcycle. "Don't pull away!! My boot has gotten hooked!"

"What?!"

If it wouldn't have been so serious Aya would've nearly grinned at the confusion in the American's voice. Sorrowfully it was serious, especially since the other cyclist had now decided to do what Brad had nearly did. Drive away. And tug him from the on-speeding bike onto the hard asphalt street. Glaring, Aya tried again to free himself, this time with more power. Both bikes started to sway in unison at his brute jerks. 

"Aya you baka! Stop doing that! You're gonna tip over the bike! "

Aya just jerked harder. Brad cursed. He tipped the bike at bit, tackling Kitten with full force. Aya got his foot free. But before he could say anything to the precognitive, Brad already spoke. "Uh-oh."

"…?"

Looking forward, Aya inhaled sharply. There were cars in front of them. At both sides. Too close for them to manage to dodge. Brad was also driving too fast for that anyway. They'd crash into them! Pressing himself as close to Brad and the machine as possible, Aya readied himself to face death. 

CRACK

Aya opened his eyes. They were still alive and driving securely (as secure as it could be) on an empty road. Behind them were the two cars. Brad had steered them through the small gap right between the driving cars, chopping off the side-mirrors and somehow saving their lives with this brain-whacked action. A sudden shriek ripped Aya out of his momentous state of shock. Turning his head back, he was right in time to see a female figure flying through the air before landing with a hard crash on the street. Obviously their pursuer hadn't been as lucky (crazy) as them. Trying to avoid, the car had hit her bike frontally. 

Looking back at the still figure on the ground, Aya was reminded of his sister's incident. She'd also had no chance to dodge. 

No time to get angsty now. Aya cursed inwardly as Brad cut through a bend, using both sides of the street for that maneuver. Like this, it was highly questionable that they would manage to reach the Koneko in one piece. _´See the good side of this.´ He could cling onto Brad as much as he wanted without attracting any unwanted attention._

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford's amber-brown eyes widened in surprise as he felt Aya pressing himself closer to him, while the redhead's hands sneaked around his waist once again, where they came to a rest. _´Wha-?´_ He increased their tempo. The driver the empath had crashed into would surely alarm the ambulance. Where the ambulance was, the police also wasn't far. No need to be caught because of speeding. 

While he steered them through the streets at high-speed, the redhead behind him neither moved nor spoke. Sneaking a look at Aya from the corner of his eyes, Brad frowned slightly. Aya was actually looking rather confident. Watchful violet eyes were peeking over his shoulder (the redhead had it rather easy, seeing at their current difference in size) while strands of his hair were playing in the wind. _´Nah, probably he just tried to get a better grip.´_ Still, it was quite impressive how that deep red resembled the color of fresh blood… Crawford found himself wondering if it was as soft to touch, as it looked like… _´Idiot! Stop daydreaming and keep your eyes on the road!´ _Nevertheless the American could feel the slightest touch of a blush starting to color his cheeks. _´You have better things to do now!´_

That was right. Until now, he'd somehow magically managed to keep the bike from toppling over by sheer speed, but sometime they would _have_ to slow down. At least when they arrived. The thought of having to stop the motorcycle made the frown reappear on Crawford's face. He'd been driving the bike just by reducing and raising their speed, but when he'd have to get slower…Crawford honestly doubted that he could hold their balance then. 

_´If I at least knew where the brake on this damned thing is…!´_ But he didn't. _´Senseless to cry over spilled milk.´_ He'd just have to make something up until they arrived.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Why, just why, always him?! Ken groaned inwardly as he climbed into Mastermind's red car. Taking place on the front-passenger seat, he frowned. That was waking unpleasant memories. 

Behind him, on the back seat, he could hear Berserker make himself comfortable. _´I have really bad luck.´ Except for a nice headache, which had come with his (surprising) return to consciousness, he now had the 'honor' to drive with Schwarz. Nagi, in return, was with Yohji and Omi since the Irish psychopath had claimed that the boy was scared of Schuldig 'cause he mistook him for the crazy woman from before. No problem so far. _

A problem, though, that his bike hadn't been where he'd left it. 

So, with his teammates already on their way, poor Ken-Ken had had no other option than jumping into the car of Schwarz before being left behind. 

He really should have gotten suspicious when he noticed that Farfarello (officially certified madman), had fastened his safety belts. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Schuldig had to admit that Siberian's sudden decision to drive with them was quite a surprise. Sorrowfully he had no time to tease the brunette about his rushed entrance, but what wasn't yet could still be coming, right? It was really annoying that they knew nothing about what had become of their enemies or leaders. At least the redhead could tell the latter were still alive, since he could still sense Crawford's shields. 

But nothing more. 

Though, the fact that dear claw boy's motorbike was gone gave him some hints to what had become of them. Schuldig just wondered if Fujimiya could drive a bike. Crawford couldn't for sure. 

On the other side of the car, Ken started relaxing. Despite his jerky start the telepathic redhead had turned out to be a surprising good driver. He sighed in relief. _`Thank God! No formula-one race today.´ Schuldig smirked at this from the corner of his eyes. /I wouldn't say that one out loud, kitty./ _

Ken flinched in his seat, awkwardly reminded of the redhead's talent. Then his curiosity got the better of him. "Why?" Schuldig's grin widened. /Cause our dear Farfie wouldn't like it at all./ Ken blinked, confused. "Berserker? Why he wouldn't like it?" Schuldig didn't look up from the street. Seemingly he was concentrated on driving the car. /Because it has the g-word in it./

Ken didn't get it at all. What was the strange guy talking about? G-word? "Go-" A pair of scarred, pale arms wound themselves around his shoulders, each one ending in a hand holding one of the Irish's favorite blades. " –o –o-oh!" Now he understood. _´Damn!´_

Next to him, Schudig let out a low whistle, his usual bastard smirk now plastered over his whole face. "Didn't know that you wanted to become a star, Ken-Ken. Though, this really isn't the right time to practice singing, if you ask me." 

Ken shot him a dirty look. Farfarello chuckled lowly.   

Just as the brunette was seriously considering wiping the redhead's smirk from his face with his fists, Schuldig suddenly frowned. 

"Hey… Isn't that car taking a suspiciously similar route to the one we are?"

"Nani?" Looking through the rearview mirror, Ken frowned too. The car seemed perfectly fine to him. Then again, he hadn't been paying any attention to the traffic. Therefore the telepath could very well be right. Farfarello released his grip on him and was now also looking back. Helpless, Ken shrugged. "Dunno. Could be."

Tilting his head a trace, Schuldig's face grew all serious. "Shit." "Huh?" "Shielded mind." "Aya and Crawford?" "Very unlikely. I'd recognize them." "Another of these freaks?" "In all probability." "Fuck!" Schuldig gave him an amused side glance.  "And Crawford says _I have a dirty mouth."_

Ken glared at him angrily. Schuldig grinned cockily. Ken sweatdropped, reminded of Yohji. 

"So what are we going to do now?"

/Stopping that car and surrendering isn't a possibility, I take, mon amis?/ 

They all gaped at the sudden, uncalled for intrusion. _´Fuck, another telepath!´ Next to Ken Schuldig's face grew suddenly dark with anger. _

/Verpiss dich![1]/

The answer was sent directly to the other's head. An amused laugh could be heard. /My,my, such a rude fellow you are./ Growling, Schuldig pushed his mental shields up. _´Mistkerl.[2]`_

A sudden click caught his attention. "Farf!!" Farfarello had opened the car door on his side and was about to crawl out of the car, probably trying to get that other guy . On his side of the car, Ken yelped and made a mad grab for the psycho's clothes. (He didn't try to reach for him directly, though. One never knew where that guy kept his knifes.) For a moment, the red sports car swayed before Ken finally managed to pull the resisting albino back into the car.    

/Good catch, keeper./ Ken snorted at the cynical voice in his head. _´Mind your own business.´ He knew that the telepath could hear him. /Like?/ _´Getting that crazy fellow off our asses?´_ The redhead whistled low again. /You're really a perverted kitten, you know that? However, I intended to do that anyway./ The German stepped on the brake. _

"…" Ken stared wide-eyed at him. "What are you doing?!" In the back seat, Farfarello was happily putting on a crash helmet; Ken didn't know where he'd gotten it. It must have been laying somewhere in the car. The car was nearly standing now. Schuldig grinned lazily. "It's called..." The mad Irishman grinned like the mad lunatic he was. Ken gulped.  

"…a Blitzstart!![3]"

Schuldig floored the gas pedal. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Omi flinched visibly as he heard the shrill screech of a car behind them. 

Currently the petite blonde was sitting in the back seat of their car, with Prodigy slumped on the cushions next to him and Yohji driving. The youngest member of Weiß just hoped that the taller blonde was a less gutsy driver than Aya. 

The next second they both gasped as Schuldig's red car passed them with still screeching wheels. "What the f**k?!" Yohji had his own way of showing his surprise. "That was Schwarz!" Despite his words, the young Japanese couldn't believe his eyes himself. Alright, it seemed quite logical that they were heading in the same direction. Still…what was Ken-kun doing in the redhead's car? Didn't he take his bike? Yohji had noticed too. 

Cursing, Yohji slammed his foot on the gas pedal. "Hold on. We won't let us get shaken off!" Omi had a bad feeling about those words. He had a good reason too. 

Pulling the steering wheel roughly to the side, Yohji nearly rammed another car that also seemed to be following the Schwarz redhead's car. "Sunday driver!" Pushing forward, Yohji put them hard on their heels. Within minutes they had managed to catch up to the speeding German. 

But that wasn't enough for Yohji. Flooring the gas once again, the blonde made himself ready to outstrip the other car. Schuldig nullified his efforts. Growling lowly, Yohji tried it from the other side. This time he did make it. … Ten seconds later Schuldig was in front of them again. The tall dark-blonde wouldn't stand for that. -And so one of the most beautiful car races of the year started. 

Desperately trying to hold himself in his seat, Omi yelped as he suddenly got a lapful of semi-conscious Nagi. Flushing deeply, he shouted. "Yohji-kun! Watch out! We have a wounded person on board!" The playboy didn't seem to be particularly impressed. "Sure, sure bishonen. First I just have to catch that speeding bastard." Omi sweatdropped. 

Luckily Nagi chose this particular moment to come to his senses again. Well, mostly. Pushing himself weakly up with his hands, (and not noticing that his ´cushion's´ face had gotten the color of Aya's hair at his actions), he blinked and promptly mistook his companions for the other members of Schwarz. Murmuring a weary "Crawford, Schuldig's driving like a lunatic again. Let him finally get a driver license.", he slapped Yohji telekinetically in the back of his head. Omi couldn't quite keep himself from laughing at the resulting curses of the older man.

"Omittchi! Agreeing with the enemy isn't fair!" 

Omi grinned.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Merde!" Bringing his (rented) car to a halt, Jilocasin let out a string of French curses. During their crazy race he had lost track of their cars and as long as that other telepath was aware of his presence, he wouldn't be able to track them down that easily again. Damn! Now they had to start the whole tiring game from the beginning again. For sure their targets wouldn't be naïve enough to return to their old base after that. No, as professionals they would definitely not make it that easy for them. 

The telepath sighted. _´Nothing will come of this evening anymore. Might as well go back home.´_ All he could do now was to pick up the other half of his team and return to their apartments. _´Tannin's going to laugh her ass off when she hears of this.´ _

First he would head back to get Stiller, if there still was anything left of the telekinetic, and then he could pick up Kitten on their way home, given that the female empath was already able to make her way out of the hospital. A sly grin formed on the French's lips. 

Having a trained actress in your team was really handy when one didn't have a clue about medicine or first aid. Also when it came about confusing your enemies. Confused birds were always easier to catch than prepared ones. 

_´What an evening…´_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Leaves were rustling. Seconds later a redhead popped out between the foliage of the bushes. One with a pair of slightly dazed amethyst eyes, blood red hair and an earring in one ear. He looked quite worn, with some smudges of dirt and grass not only on his clothes but also on his face. 

Taking in his surroundings, the redhead scowled slightly. When Brad had suddenly shouted at him to jump as he'd slowed the bike down, Aya hadn't reacted. Consequently the American man/teen had simply pushed him off the motorbike. A most cowardly act of taking advantage of his trust, if you asked Aya. Then he noticed it. 

Worry starting to creep onto his face as Aya stared at the poor remnants of Ken's bike. Well, with a visit of a _really_ good mechanic, maybe it could still be saved. -He hoped. What worried Aya far more was the fact that Brad as the driver was probably doing not nearly so well as the machine. 

Fighting his way out of the resisting bushes, the redhead leader of Weiß called anxiously. "Brad? Brad!" 

A few meters away from him and the bike, the rustling of some leaves could be heard. Stepping closer, the redhead could see a familiar leg sticking out between the undergrowth. "Brad! …Are you dead?"

A few more rustles, accompanied with a dry "Yes, I am." confirmed that it was the clairvoyant. Feeling relief flood his heart, Aya headed quickly to help the Oracle out of the bushes (due to the fact that Crawford seemed to have some problems getting out alone). Grinning at the smaller boy, who was, by the way, looking quite silly with the leaves and little branches sticking out of his hairs and clothes in every direction, he plucked one out of his dark silky hair, before commenting. "You have a rather interesting method of stopping a bike."

Crawford frowned at him. "Really."

"Really."

Noticing that the dangerous Oracle had also a smudge of earth tinting the tip of his nose, Aya had a bit of a hard time staying serious. The sleek boy who was now trying to wipe the dirt off his face and only succeeding in smearing it even more didn't really look anything like a deadly assassin or cold-blooded bastard. "Rather kawaii." 

Crawford stared at him with wide eyes. _´Shit! Did I say that loud?!´_ A thousand things were going through Aya's head at the same time, not even one of them helping. How was he supposed to react now? How would _Brad_ react? 

The leader of Schwarz frowned. "If you think crashing a bike to stop it is cute, then I don't want to know how you show somebody that you like them." Aya had nearly laughed out loud in relief. What luck Brad hadn't understood him right. Visibly, he just shrugged his shoulders. "Hn." Crawford rolled his caramel-brown eyes at him. Shaking his head slightly, the rejuvenated American headed for the bike to pick it up again. Seeing the teen clearly flinch at every stressing of his left leg, Aya's features turned into a familiar frown.

"Brad…" Shooting him an unnerved look from where he was trying in vain to get Ken's machine up again, Crawford snapped. "What?" Aya's frown deepened. When he acted like that, then…

"Your leg."  

"What's with it?"

"…It's hurt."

"Nonsense."

"Don't 'nonsense' me when I can see you wince every time you try putting weight on it." Crawford now clearly glared at him. Aya held his ground. To his surprise it was the American who gave in first. Looking away, he said. "Fine. So I landed unluckily. So?" The look he shot the redhead was enough to freeze hell. 

Sighing silently, Aya joined Brad with his attempt to get their vehicle back on its wheels. "You should treat it with care for a while." Brad didn't deign him a look. "It's just a bruise. Stop mothering me; you're not my mum." Somehow Aya got the feeling that Brad felt awful about him seeing him actually hurt. Brad was the Oracle. Untouchable. He shouldn't get hurt. -And yet still he was. Now that he knew what to look for, the redhead could clearly see the American's embarrassment. A faint trace of a slight blush here, and a bit too rash gesture there… Yeah, definitely embarrassed. Aya decided not to inquire any further. There was no point making the pre-cognitive feel any more unpleasant.  

"Alright." 

Sighing, Brad leaned on the damaged motorcycle, using it as a crook and pushing it forward at the same time. After a moment Aya followed his example, taking his place on the other side of the vehicle. 

"I hope the Koneko isn't too far."

"It isn't."

"Good."

…

…

"What?"

"I _knew_ that it would get stolen someday."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter 15 

[1] – Piss off!

[2] – Bastard.

[3] – lightning start!!

I got asked about other the pairings in this fic some time ago. Once again I'd like to know what you guys are thinking about it.^^ 

Question answering! Cayenne: I think I'll do the pairing you suggested.^.~) newtypeshadow: Nope!^_^ Yami no Tenshi: Hmm, long one here. 1. Grammatical mistake of mine. (Maybe I should stop re-correcting my beta's work, ne?^.^) 2. Both, I think. 3. Nagi was scared of Schu 'cause he mistook him with Kitten.  If there're any questions left, just ask! I'll answer for sure.

Thanks for reviewing! Pinkspider, newtypeshadow, S-Wing, C.M Aeris, Yami no Tenshi, Quarterine Winner, CC, stray cat, Rei Eien, kyitumon (^_^), Blue6-Blood6J6, Shuo Ri, Ryuke-Naoe, Sirogane (See? It's not the end of the month yet.^^)  and Kyra. *huggles*^_^

That was it for today, hope you had as much fun reading as I had typing and please review!^.^


	16. 16 Gimme back my clothes!

Author notes: I'm back! Finally! Sorry to keep you waiting that long. My mum literally killed my computer and just after the !fourth! technician I got it back workin` again. I really don't wanna know what she did to it. ^^; Anyway! Without any more delays, the next chapter!!

PS: I still don't own Weiß Kreuz. Damn...^^;

****

What he certainly hadn't planned

Chapter 16 – a short interlude or: Gimme back my clothes!

They were the first to reach the Koneko. No big surprise there, really, since the way Brad had been driving had been at more than breakneck speed. Sighing slightly in an easing manner, Aya unlocked the door of the apartment he and the other members of Weiß shared. _'What a day…'_ Not only was the boy that he felt closer to than any other had ended up turning out to be his worst enemy, Schwarz now also knew the location of their base. - And he'd managed to drag himself and his teammates head first into a situation which could very likely shorten their lifespans remarkably! To make things from bad to worse, he still couldn't quite keep his eyes from Brad.

The mysterious black-haired one had captured the redhead's attention from the very first moment Aya had looked into the assumed boy's eyes. First it had been suspicion, maybe even aversion those warm amber-browns had stirred in him, but know… It probably wasn't right to call them warm, for they weren't, but they also weren't exactly cold…. Not really, that is. They were more like… frozen. 

Yeah, frozen was probably the right word. Like a lake in the winter, they were covered with a thick layer of emotional ice, making it impossible for anyone to see behind that cover. But if you had enough patience and knew how to look… Then, with a little luck, you could maybe catch a glimpse of the life lying behind it. 

Aya had seen it.

In a scarce moment of inattention the redhead had been able to catch a brief look of what he suspected was the real Brad. It had been short, just a faint flashing of emotions, really, but it had been enough to trigger the redhead's interest. Eyes like his. Not in color or shape, but in something much more essential. They were hiding something.

A mask, even more perfect that Aya's. Unlike the redhead's simple apathy, Crawford's mask was far more complicated and deeper evolved. A work of years, maybe even decades, as Aya had slowly began to realize while he was trying to get behind it. Why? To be honest, the redhead couldn't really answer that question, not even to himself. It was just that the boy was obviously hiding an important secret nobody was supposed to know, and Aya felt that it was somehow similar to his. Similar, yet definitely different. 

No wonder Aya had gotten curious. 

After all even the infamous iceman was just human after all, and secrets and things one was _not_ supposed to know or do… Of course Aya had to snoop around. He hadn't been buying the amnesia story from the very beginning and had kept a close eye on Brad. So he had been able to catch the clairvoyant in some of his (very scarce) moments of carelessness. What he'd seen there –distrust, concern which was obviously not directed at himself and sometimes the simple confused-lost look of somebody who had absolutely no clue of what was going on- hadn't been matching with what he'd been expecting. 

Those eyes had always been too knowing and experienced than they should have been. Aya sighed and shook his head. He still couldn't read Brad, even though he knew now what had been his secret. That he was Crawford. Schwarz. The leading member of Schwarz. Yet he was still keeping the redhead's mind occupied. What was it about the black-haired American?

Aya really couldn't tell, no matter how much he himself would have liked to. It was just that trying to figure Brad out was like trying to say what was going on in a cat's head. Yeah, that was probably a fitting comparison. Like a cat's eyes Brad's seemed to be plain and simple to read in the first moment, but the longer you kept watching them, the more you realized that that simplicity was just a giant fake. A genuine true fake. 

Enchanting.

Come to think of it, where was the black-haired Oracle anyways? Aya hadn't seen the rejuvenated man anymore since he'd pushed through the door behind him. Seeing that the redhead had been off to the land of dreams for quite a while by now, his absence was a bit strange. Before Aya could go looking for him though (discretely, of course), Brad already returned from wherever he'd been and flopped down into one of the comfortable seats of the basement room, for a moment looking as worn-out as Aya himself after battling that telekinetic and the following near suicide bike-tour. 

After returning Aya had headed automatically back to the mission room to wait for the arrival of the others. Now he suddenly felt silly for it. Had he really grown that used to a life full of murdering people? Next to him Brad let out a soft sight. The American was keeping his eyes closed and was visibly relaxing. Obviously the whole affair had worn him out much more than he'd allowed to show. 

Frowning, Aya wondered if the American actually had some sort of pain threshold or if he'd just collapse out of the blue when it would get too much for him to stand. Eyeing Brad, Aya was inclined to believe the latter one. Like himself, Brad wasn't anyone to let his weakness being visible. _`Hn. Stupid.` _

Redirecting his attention to the other male in the room, Aya noticed that he was being watched through half-lidded eyes. Molten ambers stared at him, shining once again with an unreadable expression. 

"… Are you planning on standing there the whole night?"

A slight trace of malice had sneaked its way into Crawford's voice, though it didn't happen intentionally, nor was it willful. 

All in all, he looked pretty much like a person who was wishing for nothing more than a bed to sleep in and knowing very well that it was going to take quite an amount of time before that wish would come true. 

"Hn."

Crawford sighed. "Why aren't I surprised about that answer?"

Aya frowned again. Was the leader of Schwarz mocking him? 

"HN."

Crawford let out a soft laugh. "Impressive." 

Aya frowned a bit more. Brad just shook his head, indicating that it was senseless trying to argument with the icy redhead. Sighing softly, the black-haired boy tried to stand up and get the first aid kit he'd brought down with him. 

Aya's frown got a worried edge as he watched the clairvoyant clearly flinch at the very first stressing of his leg. Grabbing the first aid kid, the redhead quickly headed to the teen and handed it to him. Being confronted with his long-time opponent offering him a first aid kit, Crawford automatically straightened his back and gave him an indignant look. 

Aya retuned the look calmly. For a silent moment the two just stood there, half-glaring into each other's eyes. Then, Brad looked down at the offered object. He blinked. When he looked up to Aya again, his eyes clearly indicated the question 'And what am I supposed to do with this?' that the redhead nearly laughed despite himself. Amber-brown eyes frowned at his strange behaviour.

Finally deciding to ask the outstanding question, Brad asked. "…What am I supposed to do with this?" Aya blinked, mildly surprised that the other was really asking. Nevertheless he answered. "Treat your wounds."

For a moment Brad seemed honestly perplexed. Then the corners of his lips twitched up in that special sort of half-smirk that indicated the American's amusement. Placing himself back into his chair (Aya noted that he was carefully evading to put any pressure onto his left leg), Brad folded his hands over his knee before glancing up at the redhead again. 

The precog shrugged nonchalantly. 

"It's not for me. I got it for you."

Seeing the redhead's surprised look, Crawford smirked. 

"Seeing things as they are, your teammates are very likely going to strangle me, should they think that I was trying to harm you."

Aya frowned. 

"You need it more than me."

Brad let out a harsh laugh. "Why? Just because I landed a bit less graceful than usual? You were the one that telekinetic used as a punching bag, not me." The frown didn't change. "You also got your share of hits." Crawford chuckled darkly – not the friendly way of chuckling, but that bitter sound that indicated that he didn't really think it funny at all. 

"Don't make a fool out of yourself. Those were merely scratches." 

Aya stayed persistent. " – which are making you limp? Don't make a fool out of yourself Crawford. I'm not blind." 

When he turned to meet the clairvoyant's eyes, Brad was glaring at him. The look in those flashing amber-brown had lost all of its liveliness, the only decipherable thing in them being a cold, almost unholy, calculating intelligence. The look of the Oracle. The look that had met his every time Aya had fought the calculating leader of Schwarz. 

Met with these eyes, Aya felt a shiver run down his spine. Then something in those depths turned and the expression in Brad's eyes vanished. 

Deciding that he wasn't going to carve in to some pocket-seized Oracle, Aya huffed indignantly and set the first aid kit onto the little table next to the chair. Taking his cloak off, he said. "We're both going to use it. We were both hurt." 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Really, what was he making such a fuss about it? It was just a bruise! Nothing big to act like that! Aya was acting as if he was bleeding like I-don't-know-what. Totally overreacting! Grumbling silently in his mind like this, Crawford slowly pushed up the rim of his left trouser leg until he could see the source of his pain. 

Frowning at the red spot that was nearly directly under his knee, the clairvoyant cursed silently. _´Damn! If it looks like that already, it's going to last for a damn long time.'_ From experience the American knew about the annoying stubbornness of such bruises. Never actually really hurting, they tended to become _very_ annoying. 

Next to him, Aya also frowned, taking note of the beautiful cancer-red coloring of the bruise. 

"Hn. Damn arrogant asshole. You really should learn not to overrate yourself that much anymore." He handed Brad some ointment. The teen wordlessly took it and started to rub it in. 

"… And that coming from the one who tried to catch a helicopter by throwing a katana after it." 

Aya stopped from where he'd been treating his own wounds to look at Crawford pointedly. Crawford replied with looking as innocent as a twenty-seven years old ruthless killer turned fifteen could look. 

For a moment both emotionally cold men stared at each other. Then Aya slowly lowered his head while Crawford ran a hand through his (once again) ruffled hair, covering his facial expression in the movement. For a long moment they both stayed like this, before their shoulders started shaking. 

Seconds later the first of them had started chuckling. Uncovering his face, Crawford looked at Aya. The redhead seemed truly amused by this ridiculous turn of their conversation. For a moment liquid amber-brown and blazing violet met in eyes which were not used in displaying such a gentle feeling as the delight which was now in them. 

Grinning, Crawford could feel his chuckles turning into full-blown laughter into which Aya joined. For some minutes, which seemed too long to be so short, their laughing voices were the only thing that existed inside the house.

Crawford laughed. Laughed because of the whole absurdity of this situation, the fact that he was sitting here, trapped in a child's body with Abyssinian next to him, because their ridiculous situation, because Aya was laughing with him, because he was still alive.… But mainly he simply laughed. 

Next to him Aya slowly relaxed, all the tension of the recent events and fights easing off of him in this single outburst. As his laughter slowly ebbed away, so did Brad's. The following silence seemed strangely strangled to the redhead's ears, being much louder than their both raised voices just moment s ago together. 

Still, it felt good, having all the tension relieved from oneself in one single outburst. Next to him, Brad had also fallen silent, staring off into space with a strange expression. Seeing that expression, Aya frowned. But before the stoic redhead came to ask, the black-haired teen turned to him, saying. "The others have arrived."

Nodding his approval, Aya kept a suspicious eye on the clairvoyant. _´A vision…?´_ Somehow he couldn't believe that. Brad hadn't looked like he was having a vision, as far as he could tell. So what else could it have been? Something didn't seem right…

Aya decided to keep a watching eye on the Oracle, and may it just be to stay on the safe side.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Just what was wrong with him?

Crawford frowned, asking himself quietly that question. What was wrong… He couldn't tell, but something was definitely not like it was supposed to be. 

Weren't you supposed to feel relaxed after laughing that much? So, why wasn't he? As seldom as it was, Crawford's laughter had been real, the amusement honest instead of some half-heartedly played fake. So why? 

All he felt now, after stopping to laugh, was a strange inner numbness. As if he'd has been stuffed out with cotton wool, or something like that, like some sort of plush toy... As if none of him was real. Had ever been real. _´Just some stuffed toy others were playing with. Is that me?´_

He knew that numbness. Crawford had already experienced it once a long time ago, after he'd killed for the first time. Back then he'd also not felt like himself. Like the consciousness of an empty shell… The only thing he'd been able to think back then had been _´I'm dying.'_ And now he felt the same. 

__

`Does that mean that I'm dying right now?´ Crawford chuckled in his mind, wondering what should be still left there of him to be dying. _´Idiot! Get a hold of yourself!!´_ There was no time to get whiny. Whiny meant weak and Crawford wasn't weak at all. He couldn't afford that. Not as Oracle, not as the leader of Schwarz and not as a human being. 

__

´No way…!´

He would find a way. He always found a way. Always. 

That's why he was Crawford, after all. 

He always found a way. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"- I can't believe that you really did that! There's _no_ way Aya isn't going to kill you!"

Ken was beside himself. Scratch that, Ken was at about the tip of an edge before panicking –if you had a likening for understatements. Currently the sporty brunette was leading the two members of Schwarz down to the basement room, trying to cope with what he'd just found out. 

__

´As if that car ride of horror wouldn't have been enough. There's no way that we'll survive this! Aya's going to kill us!! I don't wanna die!´ His mental wailings got interrupted by the German's voice in his head. 

/Kill us? I don't see any reason for what he should kill _me_./

Ken nearly felt the spiral staircase down. He wasn't used to any voices except his own speaking in his head. _'Would you please stop that? If you keep on I'm gonna trip and fall down the stairs!´_ Behind him, Schuldig looked bored. /And what would be new 'bout that?/

Ken let out a low growl. _`Are you trying to say that I'm clumsy?!`_ Schuldig shrugged his shoulders. /I? No, ne~ever. Where we all exactly know what an example of natural grace you are Siberian./ 

Ken glared at him. Schu grinned and tried to look as innocent as possible. (Not exactly much. ^^;) "I really don't get why you're making such a fuss about that car. It's just a car after all."

At that Ken whirled around, chocolate eyes wide. "Just a car?! It's a Porsche, damnit! _Aya's_ Porsche to be exact! Do you know what he's gonna do with us?! And just because of him!" 

He gestured at the smirking Farfarello (who was still wearing his crash helmet, by the way). Schuldig glanced briefly back at the psycho in question, noting the satisfied expression on his face. The Irishman was clearly enjoying the situation he'd created. 

"Get mad and try to ´shi-ne!´ us until he trips over his own sword?" 

"That's _not_ funny!"

Nevertheless Ken couldn't quite keep himself from laughing at the picture that words created in his mind. Aya tripping over his own sword…

His laughter got stuck in his neck when he found himself right in the center of the human icicle glare of doom when he reached the bottom of the stairs. A fine red eyebrow rose when the unofficial leader of Weiß took in the appearances of the other members of Schwarz. Ken assumed that it was because of the crash helmet. 

"…"

Ken sweatdropped. /My, what eloquence./ /Shut up, Schwarz!/ Hey, he'd managed to speak intentionally telepathic! Oops, no time patting himself on the back. Aya was watching him suspiciously. Ken grinned feebly, barely repressing the urge to scratch himself on the head sheepishly. Hey, he hadn't done anything bad, right? There was no reason worrying that Aya could drag him in on his revenge! The brunette still wished that he could be somewhere very far away when the redhead found out what had happened to his car.

"… You're not upset because we took your bike?" 

It was just half a question. At Aya speaking, Crawford raised his head, looking for the first time at the newly arrived. He didn't seem disturbed by Farfarello's strange getup. Ken started wondering if that was normal within Schwarz. _´Uh, better not think about it.´_

Just now Ken noticed the fact that Aya and Brad – he momentarily forgot that the boy was in reality Oracle- also weren't fully dressed the way he had seen them the last time anymore. Well, not completely, that is. 

Aya had taken off his cloak (meaning that he was now just in shirt, pants and boots) and Crawford was still in the clothes he'd left with, though the not-really-teen had been straightening his left trouser leg until Aya had spoken. 

Now two equally unreadable stares were directed at him. Ken started sweating. So much unshared attention made him uncomfortable. 

Schuldig had also noticed their different state of dressing. Leering, he silently asked Crawford. /We wouldn't have happened to disturb you two in something private, have we?/ The mirth was obvious in his mental voice. Crawford directed his scowl at the telepathic redhead. /I don't know what you're talking about./ Sculdig grinned like the ancestor of all Cheshire cats. /Of course you don't. Aya-chan on the other side, maybe…/ He caught the American's annoyed glance. 

After a few moments passed, Crawford tilted his head almost invisibly in Farfarello's direction. /…You drove again?/ Schuldig grinned widely. /Ja… Kitty's been pretty impressed with my driving skills./

Crawford nearly rolled his eyes. 

/I`m not going to doubt that./ 

Still grinning, Schuldig stretched and leaned against the wall. "He was actually pretty riled up about that whole bike-thingy, but when he decided to put it into the garage…" Ken quickly clapped a hand over his mouth, not too accidentally using a bit more force than necessary. 

Cursing, the redhead pushed it away, before smirking again. "Soo~… Who was the lucky one who learned how to drive a bike?"

Aya shot Crawford a surprised glance. "I thought you knew how to drive it." Crawford shrugged nonchalantly. "I never said that I actually did it." Aya gaped at him, not believing that Brad had tricked him like that. Schuldig started to laugh. "He told you that he could drive a bike? And you believed him?!" Still too dazed, Aya nodded simply. Schuldig laughed even more. 

Crawford glared at the annoying German hyena. "I did learn it once." Schuldig gasped between his laughters. "That time you later said that you had been sleeping 'bout half of the lecture?" Aya glared at Brad. Crawford managed to look more innocent than he had been for a _very_ long time. Schuldig broke down laughing while Ken just sweatdropped. Farfarello was looking barely amused.

Yohji, Omi and Nagi (who had to be carried) chose just that particular moment to come down the spiral stairs. The two members of Weiß looked noticeable pale. Having noticed the first aid kit lying on the table, Omi gave them a concerned look.

"Ah… Ohayou Aya-kun, Brad-k- Crawford-san. Are you two alright?"

Aya whirled to look at the newly arrived, while Crawford barely rose an eyebrow. "Perfectly fine, Omi." The petite blonde sized them with a doubtful look but nodded, then abruptly scurrying over to Ken to make sure that his friend also was all right. 

What he left was a Yohji who was slightly at a loss about what to do with the unconscious burden in his hands. Catching sight of Nagi, Schuldig stopped laughing. Within seconds all attention of the other three Schwarz members was focused on their youngest member. 

"Giv´ him to me." 

It was Farfarello who spoke first, taking the young telekinetic from the lanky blonde's hands and cradling him gently. Nobody else seemed surprised by the carefulness with which the Irish albino was handling Nagi. 

"We need a place where he can rest. No idea what those bastards have done to him." The German's voice had turned into a low, ferocious growl at the thought of the ones who'd done that to their chibi.

"You can bring him into the room I've been using." Biting down the pain that was accompanying the movement, Crawford stood up and led the way. 

Watching Schwarz leave, Yohji asked. "Are you two really ok?" It was clear that the playboy still didn't trust their enemy team at all. Why should he?! They were all Weiß fought against, though he wasn't as sure about that point as he'd formerly been. 

"Yeah…sure." Ken tried to smile reassuringly at them, while Aya simply glared at Yohji. The redhead was still angry that he'd been taken by Crawford that easily. Embarrassing. _´Not that you`d actually haven`t enjoyed some of the results of being tricked. That bike ride had been rather nice except for that getting ourselves nearly killed several times part.´_ Aya growled at the annoying little voice in his head, knowing that it was telling the truth. It _had_ been nice to be so close to Brad… Stop! Hentai thoughts again! _´Must not think about it! Must not think about it…´ _It was useless. Already felt the redhead the beginnings of a light flush starting to paint his cheeks. 

__

´Not in front of everyone!´ And also it was senseless anyway. No way the Oracle of Schwarz would ever return any sort of feelings to him. Definitely not. Not that Aya had any sort of romantic feelings towards the withdrawn clairvoyant in the first part, not at all, it was just that in the case of … _´Grrr, cut it! There's NO way I'm still going after him. Not now, where I know that he's the enemy…! A very adorable and impressive enemy, but still- Argh! Stop- Right- Now! I'm-´_

"Aya-kun? Daijoubou?"

Omi's worried voice brought Aya back into the real world. All of the others were giving him worried looks. _´Great´_

"Aya?"

"A-Aa."

Before anyone was able to ask any unpleasant questions, Aya left the room. Ken blinked surprised. 

"What was that for?" 

Frowning, Yohji shrugged. "I don't have the slightest clue."

…

"So, does that mean that Schwarz is going to stay?"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

He woke up to the sound of debating voices.

Frowning, Nagi tried to make out the different voices that sounded through the haze which was in his head. They sounded familiar… Nagi concentrated a bit more. 

"- but Braddy-!"

That nasal voice…

"Schuldig."

His eyes flew open at that firm reprimand. There was just one who talked like this. "Crawford-" For a moment he saw shadowy figures hurrying over to where he was lying. Finding the surrounding light too bright, Nagi squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to block out the offending rays which were hurting them. 

"Hey Naggs-"

"Nagi –"

"…Heh…"

Now he knew. The ones around him were nobody else than Schulding, Farfarello and Crawford, the other members of Schwarz. The ones which were more or less making up his family… They sounded worried. For a moment senseless joy flooded his mind. They were worried about him. They cared…

"Nagi, do you hear me?"

Pulling himself together, Nagi nodded weakly. "Hai." Somewhere he heard a relieved sigh. ? That wasn't fitting to Crawford. Was there anybody else with them. Somebody else was pushing Crawford aside. "Hey, chibi. How do you feel? Are you all right? Have those bastards touched you? I swear, if they`ve just laid a single finger-!" 

He was once again cut short by Crawford's reprimanding voice. "If you pester him with questions that won't help anybody. Leave him some rest." Nagi could literally see the German's astonished expression at those words. Since when did Crawford sound like he cared? Schuldig had obviously silently asked the same question, for the clairvoyant's next words were "Since I had the pleasure of experiencing the same drug they probably used on Nagi." "…" Another mental question. "Idiot. Natürlich nicht![1]" The switched back to Japanese after a short pause, sounding once again all matter of fact. "They seem to use some special kind of drug to weaken our mental constitution." 

__

´Huh? What are they talking about? Who're they_ they're speaking about?´_ Clearly Nagi had missed something. Why was Crawford suddenly there? Was it really Schuldig there or was it that woman again? Farfarello? Had they came to rescue him? Nagi forced his eyes to open, ignoring the dizzying fog in his head. 

"I'm alright… Just a little tired." Nagi winced at the sound of his own voice. Clearing his throat, he looked around. For sure there were Farfarello and Schuldig, standing next to his bed, but where was Crawford? Nagi was sure that he'd also heard the American. Didn't he want to be seen?

"Where are we?"

"…With Weiß."

"Weiß?!"

"Ja. Funny, ne? The safest place for us to stay is currently our enemies home base." The German laughed, while Crawford watched in silence. The American wasn`t so sure if it would be a good idea to enlighten the small telekinetic right now over his little ´restriction´. Surprised telekinetics could be nasty. Schuldig seemed to be a different opinion.

"Hey Naggs, guess what. Our dear stick-up-his-ass leader has finally got it. I bet Crawford-chan didn't plan _that_ one!" 

The smirking redhead tugged the resisting precog into Nagi´s view. Impressive midnight blue eyes widened in amazement. That… wasn't Crawford. No way that that little boy should be the tall American. Familiar expressionless amber-brown eyes narrowed in annoyance. 

"I don't think that that's particularly funny, Schuldig. Like this, I won't be able to fight properly." Schuldig smirked, ruffling the teens black hair in a careless gesture (and risked his hand getting bitten off, while we're at it). "When have you ever?" 

The teen – Nagi still couldn't believe that it was really Crawford – seized the redhead with an annoyed expression. "Watch your mouth, Mastermind." Schuldig fakely frowned, giving the American a hurt look. /Why so unfriendly, Crawlie? Those Weiß bastards wouldn't have managed to pull you over, have they?/ An amused light shone in the mind reader's hauntingly green eyes. 

"Schuldig."

Nagi shuddered inwardly. _'All right. Now I believe it.´_ Schuldig could count himself lucky that expressions weren't able to kill. The tone Crawford had used meant as much as ´another word and you'll find yourself with a nice hole in your head, right there where your brain's supposed to be.´ Yeah, that sounded like the Crawford he knew. Like usual, the redhead absolutely ignored the warning. And, of course, that pissed Crawford off even more. 

Nagi weakly grinned inwardly at the image of those two. There would be no regular day where the German and the American wouldn't start at least one fight. Also, of course, nothing ever actually happened. Sure, Schuldig would do everything to get on Crawford`s nerves and Crawford would growl and glare at him like some angry animal, but they never went as far as to honestly hurting each other. To Nagi, it seemed a bit as if the two were secretly training their willpower, probing every day how far they could went before one of the showed nerves. And like always, Farfarello was just standing there and watched them, feral smile on his lips. Things like this made Nagi so loyal to Schwarz, the other members of the team, no matter how strange they were, had become his substitute family. A strange, freaky, totally crazed off substitute family, admittedly, but a family nevertheless. But that wasn`t answering his questions. 

Nagi decided that the best way was to ask them right out. 

"Crawford? Why are you like that? What happened? Why´s Weiß there? And who attacked me? She looked like Schuldig…"

He was cut off by the telepath, who had now grown serious. "Too many questions at once, but the chibi`s right. Who are those guys? You really owe us a good explanation." Farfarello nodded silently, showing his interest in those questions too. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford frowned at them. It was seldom having all members of his team agreeing with each other like this. It made them look closer than they really were. Well, propably it was just the shock from nearly losing one of them. 

Silently, he surpressed the urge to shake his head, carefully making sure that his shields were up again. _´There`s no way I can tell them.´_ It was impossible to tell them that he had no clue as well. That`d be impossible. Simply impossible. As the Oracle, his power was based on knowledge. Forget that, it _was_ knowledge paired up with quick enough reflexes to react to it. He couldn`t tell them that he knew close to nothing as well, probably even less than them. _´Impossible_´ 

Nagi stopped eyeing him curiously, long enough to yawn widely. Smirking internally, Crawford began to speak. The Oracle knew them well enough to recognize a breach when seeing one. 

"I will answer your questions -" Schuldig looked up, green eyes sparkling with curiousity. "- but not immediately. All that you have to know right now is that we`re safe here. Nagi…", he gave the boy in question a pointed look, "…has to rest. You others should too." 

Meeting his stern look, none of the other three psychics in the room dared to protest. Why should they? He was Crawford, he`d know what to do best. 

"… I`ll go and make sure that Weiß won`t make any problems." 

And with that he left, leaving two surprised psychics and a suspicious telepath alone in the room. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Schuldig frowned. All the time, he`d not gotten any hints from the American`s mind, and was thus unable to tell what was going on with him. Schuldig didn`t like that. 

As the American`s longest companion, he'd gotten pretty good at reading the precog, not depending on his abilities anymore. He knew the suble signs as well as the clairvoyant knew his, and what he`d seen right now didn't mean anything good. Something was troubling their leader – and he was going to know what.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

When Crawford re-entered the basement room, he once again nearly collided with Aya who was about to leave. Things like this seemed to happen rather often, recently. 

Frowning a bit, (and not knowing if it was really bothering him or not), Crawford entered the room. Aya also stayed, leaning against a wall with an expressionless face. Minutes later Schuldig and Farfarello followed his example, entering quietly. 

Some time and many (partwise heated) discussions later, the sleeping arrangements were more or less settled. Nagi, since he was still in a bad shape from his imprissionment, was going to stay in the guest room. Farfarello would be staying in the basement (nobody wanted to try to sleep with him in the same room). Omi had his room for his own and Ken, Yohji and Schuldig were still battling it out. Last, Brad and Aya were going to share a room. 

Aya honestly doubted that he would manage to sleep this night…

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Sighing, Aya turned renewedly, wishing once again that the couch he was lying on was a bit more comfortable. 

After it was settled that Schwarz would stay for a while ("Would you rather try to throw us out by force and find a good explanation for a bunch of Kritiker agents and angry neighboors? No? Then it`s settled.), the redhead had left his bed to Crawford without as much as an attempt to fight. Actually, he`d already been lying on the couch and pretended to sleep when the Oracle had finally entered the room. The American had stopped short for a tiny moment, seemingly surprised that he was getting the obviously more comfortable opportunity to sleep on. Out of the corners of his eyes Aya had been able to see the precog frown shortly before a slightly amused expression had quirked the corners of his lips. Shaking his head with a nearly inaudible sigh, Crawford had quickly changed and went to bed. Just minutes later the Oracle had fallen asleep. 

__

´He must have been pretty exhausted…´, Aya mused, absentmindly wondering how strenuous the use of psychic abilities had to be. Enough, it seemed. _´So much has happened today…´_ Turning again, Aya tried to untie the knot of surprising events of the day, just to find his mind wandering back to the sleeping clairvoyant once again. Brad was Crawford… no wonder that he hadn`t been more open. How would he have reacted in such a situation? Not that different, Aya was sure. _`But how did he get like that? Not that it actually bothers me, that body of his is quite fine, but…´_ Biting onto his bottom lip, Aya resisted the urge to slap himself. There he was, doing it again. _´Hentai!!´_ He was _not_ attracted to Brad. Definitely not. He was _no_ pedophile!! And that boy wasn`t just any boy, it was Crawford! Schwarz!! His worst enemy!! Aya did _not_ like him!! … But why was he trying to help him then? Just because he hadn`t tried to attack them or used their trust otherwise for his own good? Nah, couldn`t be. All he was doing was trying to aid his own team, and when it meant coming to a truce with Schwarz for a while, so it should be.

__

´Great. Now I just have to get myself believing that stuff.´ Sighing silently, Aya kept tossing around until he finally fell asleep much, much later. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

It sounded as if hell itself were let loose when Aya woke the next morning to the sound of thumping feet and angry shouts. 

Yawning widely, the redhead noted that Brad had already left, leaving the room's door open a bit. By the time he entered the kitchen, Schuldig and Omi were already there, as was Crawford. The latter was silently sipping on his coffe while Schuldig was obviously trying to hypnotisize the coffeemaker to work faster with doubtful success. When Aya entered he was only greeted by Omi, while Crawford shot him just a noncommittal glance. The other redhead didn`t even bother to look, being too busy with the coffeemaker. 

"Good morning, Aya-kun!"

"…I wouldn`t stay standing there, if I were you."

Perplexed, Aya automatically made a few steps forward, just in time _not_ to get overrun by an insanely giggling Isish albino who was wearing – and there Aya had to look twice to believe his eyes – what seemed to be a black gown. 

A black gown with white straps forming a cross over the sleeves. The lunatic was wearing Yohji`s assassin gear (actually it was just the coat)! The wrong way round. 

Following the insane lunatic was a _very_ imaginatively- cursing playboy. Crawford watched the others sweatdropping, looking as perplexed as hell. 

"Cross-dressing hurts God!!" 

"Wha-?! I`ll show you ´hurt God´!!"

Grinning silently to himself, the precog took another sip of his coffe. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chaper 16

[1] Idiot! Naturally not! 

Ja – Yes, yeah

Well, that was the sixteenth chapter... I'm not really glad how it turned out. Please view it as a calmer connection-part for the next chapter –which will take definitely less time to come out than this one. ^^; Versprochen. (Promise). 

About the questions... The crash helmet. Farfie probably knew Schu`s driving style and stole the one of Ken`s bike. (Remember? We see Ken always drive with one, but when Brad and Aya got to the bike, there was none.) Which leads immediately to the second question, Schu`s lack of a driving license. I honestly doubt that any public authority of the world would give out a license on the name of a Mr. Guilty. ^^;

About a lime scene... I haven't thought about one yet, but if I write one I`ll put it on something more private and just link it to ff.net. (Don`t want to be thrown out for wrong rating or such... ^.~)

As always much much thanks for reviewing Suisei Lady Dragon, Shirogane, PinkSpider, kyitumon, B6 – B6J6, Shuo Ri, straycat cayra-chan, Kyra, Ryuke-Naoe, Yami no Tenshi, Jenny, Moku, Rei Eien, S.Wing and Dje for the great tip. ^_^ Arigatou!!

… review please? ^^


	17. psychos and straightjackets

Disclaimer: The usual. (See previous chapters.) **What he certainly hadn't planned**

Chapter 17

Aya watched with open amazement as the two dashed by. Yohji seemed perfectly pissed off. Farfarello obviously had his fun. _´Now I know why they call him crazy.´_  Another crash.

"Oi!! Ken! Stop him!! He has my clothes!!"

"What?!"

//CRASH//

"Ken! Why didn't you stop him?!"

A groan was heard from Ken. The brunette had obviously not managed to evade the oncoming stampede in time. 

"Yohji! What's the meaning of this?!"

"Don't ask, stupid. Help me! When I woke up my door was open and that – that thing was in my room like this!!" Cursing, the playboy hopped over Ken's fallen form and continued the chase. " And I had made sure to lock the damn thing!"

Brad raised an eyebrow at Schuldig. /You wouldn't happen to know how that door magically opened?/ It wasn't really a question; the precognitive knew his team members too well. Serving himself a cup of coffee, the redhead shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. /Bad little house-elves?/ Crawford rolled his eyes. /Rather a very familiar poltergeist./ Schuldig grinned. The American repressed the urge to sigh. 

The comment about the cross-dressing had really upset the blonde. To make a long story short, the chase continued until the late morning hours, while everyone stayed at their comparatively safe areas. (Ken had somehow managed to flee into the kitchen after being run over for the third time, and Nagi was already used enough to his team-mates to not leave the room he was in until it was silent again.) 

In between the ruckus they made, Aya had remembered Ken's strange comment about his car the day before. The redhead decided to have a look on it. A few moments later…

A scream of pure fury was heard just as Yohji had finally managed to get a hold on the Schwarz nut. Everybody flinched at the sound, the members of Weiß blanching since they knew its meaning. An angry Aya. A very pissed off Aya with a katana and nothing that could stop him within the next two hours… Oh dear. ^^;;

Behind them they could hear Crawford murmur a 'damn' under his breath. 

Crazy lunatic with a favour for hurting himself or not, Farfarello was sane enough to do the only thing right in this situation. Tearing himself free of Yohji`s grip, he dashed into the next-best room and slammed its door shut behind his back, locking it twice.   

Just seconds later an absolutely furious redheaded tornado was on the other side of the door, slamming his fists angrily against the door while shouting and miraculously _not_ managing to cut himself with his katana in his rage. 

"K`so!! Open the goddamn door so that I can kill you, or I'll skin you until even you will feel the pain!!" 

Yohji, Ken and Omi sweatdropped, wondering if it shouldn't be _Aya_ that should be called Berserker instead. Farfarello was luckily clever enough to find the obvious error in Aya`s reasoning and left the door locked. Nagi came into the kitchen and gave them all strange looks. Crawford and Schuldig continued doing what they had been doing before the red rage had sprung into action. 

All in all, it was a pretty normal morning in the Koneko no Sumu Ie. (As normal as it could get, with all those guys.) 

/Hmm… Shall we go and see what made dear Abyssinian that angry?/ Crawford frowned at him. /I think you already know what it is./ Schuldig grinned lazily. "Me? Whatever makes you think that?" The precog gave him a pointed look. Schuldig grinned. "All right. Farfie decorated his sports car a bit." The American sighed.

"Huh? Where ya going?" 

Crawford stopped shortly to look at his redheaded team mate. "Taking a look on it." Schuldig gave him a puzzled look. "Hä? Ich dachte- [1]" Gesturing at the door, Crawford just shook his head. "I just saw that this is going to go on for a whole while." Schuldig grimaced. "Wait for me."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Peals of laughter echoed through the building. Though seemingly bright, the apartment that made up the Estet snipers' base radiated a rather cold atmosphere. Despite the many windows that enabled the sunrays to illuminate every room with warm daylight and the bright furniture that was kept mostly in warm pastel hues and white (not that disinfectant hospital white, mind you!), it didn't really warm the rooms.

It was more as if the very walls themselves were radiating an air of hatred of everything alive within them… A creepy feeling. 

Tannin stopped laughing long enough to take in Jilocasin´s disapproving expression. The telekinetic had naturally been curious about the others successions, and what she'd heard had just been too good to be true. The platinum- blonde grinned at her peeved companion. 

"I told you that he'd be an interesting thing to play with." 

Jilocasin glared at her, his usual easy-going manner forgotten momentarily. "That you did. But you forgot to tell me that they're an bunch of aliéné malade mental!!"

Tannin blinked. "A bunch of ali-what? Stop talking French, ya know no ass´s gonna understanding you if ya do that." 

The French telepath sighed. /I said: a bunch of mentally disturbed lunatics./ 

"Oh. Did I really forget to mention that?^^ I though I had."

"YOU…!" Jilocasin barely resisted the urge to strangle the irritable woman – mostly because he knew that she'd wipe up the floor with him, should he ever try. Though, looking slightly crazy in a harmless way, Tannin wasn't. 

Actually, the tattooed telekinetic was one of the most prized killers of the whole organisation, if not one of the most dangerous of the whole world. What made her that dangerous was neither her sometimes endearing quirkiness nor her total control of her talent, but the fact that the woman totally lacked any trace of conscious feeling of guilt. Doing one's shopping or killing a kid was totally the same for her, though he suspected that Tannin though the act of killing a bit more entertaining. But the point was that it didn't really matter. Reality and game were one and the same, and if you didn't like something then you changed it. –Or reset it.  

Like said, it honestly didn't matter.

"Thanks to you, I have half of my team in intensive care and my car in repair."

An amused pale eyebrow rose, grey eyes glittering with the expressing of a hunter. "Your car? What did you do? Trying to participate in the great Tokyo street race?"

"I don't think that that's funny."

Tannin grinned. "I heard about it on the radio. Seems like they've shown you how things run in this part of the world." She paused. "Who was on the mission, anyways?"

Jilocasin  frowned at her. "Kitten and Stiller. I kept a safe eye on them from the distance, but I was noticed." 

Tannin pursed her lips. "The desaparecidos [2]? What happened?" The disapproval was evident in her voice. Tannin didn't think too high of that human fighting machines herself. Sure, she was willing to admit that they were quite useful, but really… She preferred doing the job herself. 

"Kitten got some bruises, and Stiller has still to be readjusted. That experience weakened his mental system." 

"Tasteless…"

"I know what you think of them. But they really are useful. If their program works properly, that is." Jilocasin took a sip of his glass of wine before continuing. "The power of will and imagination is really amazing. They can even survive and partially heal deadly wounds just by _not knowing_ that they're supposed to die."

"So Stiller still lives?" He rose an eyebrow at her. "I thought you didn't know anything about this." She grinned. "That's right. But I'm very nosy."

 He sighed. That was just like her, making him retell the whole story while she already knew everything. Anyway… 

"…That's right. He's alive. Though I don't think that he'll be able to do more than one last mission before finally falling apart. That merde- seer did a good job at ruining him. "

Tannin´s lips pursed again. "You poor man. Then you'll have to look for a proper replacement, ne? If that's the case… " She got up and made herself ready to go, brushing intentionally a bit closer to the other than necessary. Though that ´close´ didn't had to mean that it was a nice action in any sense. Not at all. " … I guess you can count yourself lucky for our little bet."

She turned in the doorway, watching him predatorily. "Remember? The winner gets all." 

And with a malicious smirk, she left. 

_´Sometimes I wonder if I like her more when she's not sober…´_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

One thing Crawford had to admit. Farfarello had done quite a good job to ruin Aya´s car. Next to him, Schuldig let out a low whistle. It really was amazing what their Irish companion could do… if he wanted to. 

Seemingly lacking any proper tools, the lunatic had had to restrict himself to the lacquer, the tires and some smaller parts of the car's body. It didn't mean he hadn't had his fun. Examining the degraded Porsche, Schuldig grinned again. /Your dear Farfie can be quite an artist, don't you think so?/   

Sighing inwardly softly, Crawford just shook his head, unsure whether he should be amused with the crazy albino's action or wondering what he'd done to be caught with such team-members. 

He had to admit that the sheer thought of Farfarello breaking into Weiß´ garage and devastating their leader's car with graffiti was amusing. Probably it was also just because the crazy nut had somehow actually managed to hammer two little horns into the bonnet of the car accompanied with a half-scratched into the painting, half-smeared with blood well-legible writing. _Kitty.  _

Except for that, the insane guy had left out the writing, concentrating rather on the skillful drawings all over the rest of the car's body. For somebody who'd had just three colours to use, his work was pretty good, as Schuldig had remarked. No wonder Aya had been furious.

Somehow the rejuvenated clairvoyant doubted that the redhead would be using that car any time soon. 

Directing his thoughts on more important matters, Crawford turned to Schuldig. "You are going to have to get some things for us." The German stopped smirking for a moment and gave the other one a questioning look. "What things?" Crawford shrugged. 

"The usual. Medication for Farfarello, computer equipment for Nagi-"

"-and some painkillers for your headache?"  

The Oracle gave him a look. "Actually I wanted to say a pair of reserve glasses for me." Schuldig smirked. "Oops."

Stretching his long limbs, Schuldig gave himself time with his next question. "Not that I'd mind being let loose with pockets full of money, but why don't you do it yourself as always?"

Crawford presented him a feeble smirk. "Like this? I doubt that they'd give me half of the things." 

Schuldig grinned. "True. So then I'm off. The money's in the same place as always?" Crawford nodded. The clairvoyant had in wise foresight (not talent related) stored small caches of money away in safe places, so that they wouldn't have to necessarily return to their apartment. A good move, as it proved now.

"Do that. I'll go and-" He sighed soundlessly, knowing that it was a large task he was going to burden himself with. "- keep themselves from making each other crazy." Schuldig laughed. 

"Each other? Much luck!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

When Crawford returned, the other members of Weiß had already managed to drag Aya away, pretending that he was needed in the shop. Farfarello had still locked himself in. Crawford sighed. Though such actions as this didn't occur often, it happened once in a while that the Irishman's mental state did a killer-loop. Such times always left Crawford with a banging headache, mainly because it was always left to him to put things straight again.

Crawford knocked against the door. No answer. "Farfarello, I know that you're there." "Why are you knocking then?" Crawford groaned inwardly. Seemed like the lunatic was in a good mode for joking. Sadly, few people shared his view of what's funny. 

The Oracle was pretty sure that Farfarello thought that his little stunt with Kudou´s clothes had been funny. (Actually, he had been wrong. What _had_ been funny were the others reactions to it.) Farfarello was clever. Crawford knew that. Sometimes he just wished that the one-eyed man would decide whether he wanted to be sane or not. 

"Farfarello"

Again no answer. 

"Come out." 

"No. He's gonna kill me."

Crawford rolled his eyes. _´Since when's _he_ afraid to die?´ Swallowing his cynicism, the American repeated the question aloud. _

Farfarello contemplated it. It was true that he really didn't fear death but being killed by a kitten… God would be dying with laughter. Hell, everybody would be dying with laughter after they'd heard this. He decided to keep the door locked. After all he wasn't stupid. And annoying Crawford was quite amusing; he had to agree with Schuldig there.

 "So you won't come out?"

"No."

"All right…" Sighing, Crawford wandered off to retrieve Nagi and something that could be used as a substitute for a straightjacket. It was a pity they didn't bring one with them… He needed something with straps - a cloth a bit larger than needed, so that they could wrap Farfarello properly in. It also wouldn't do any harm if it was a somewhat resistant fabric, or else the lunatic would be free again in no time. A bit bigger, resistant, with straps… 

Crawford immediately knew that it was a bad idea. –But that didn't keep him from putting it into action.  

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

When Schuldig finally came back from his shopping tour (I don't have to mention that he bought more with Crawford's money than necessary, do I? ^^;) the situation seemed to have calmed down a bit. 

The redhead could feel the three members of Weiß working in the shop (the other one had to be in school he assumed) and the rest of his team in the apartment. _´Hmm. Farfie seems to amuse himself greatly.´ Already when he entered he could hear the Irish's mad giggles. _

Schuldig winced at the shrill sound. "Hey, what's up? Farf sounds like he's going on the warpa-…" The following sight amazed him enough to render him speechless  - and that certainly didn't happen often. His team-colleagues had managed to strap Farfarello into Abyssinian's cloak! Yeah, the leather one with the buckles on the arms and chest. 

Farfarello was happily hopping up and down, babbling something about cross dressing and how it hurt god as well as making it as hard as possible for Brad to fasten to last straps of the improvised straightjacket. Nagi was standing by the site and watching them with a slightly amused impression on his face. 

" –Goddamnit! Farf! Stand still, will you?!"

The crazy lunatic just jumped even more. 

Schuldig grinned as Crawford cursed more and sauntered over to Nagi. "Hi, chibi." Nagi barely looked up. The sight of his two quarrelling team-mates was much too interesting to take his eyes off. "Hello Schuldich." Schuldig grimazed. "Schuldig, not Schuldich. Geez, why's Crawford the only one who pronounces it right?" Nagi shrugged, still too diverted to pay the redhead any proper attention. 

Schuldig grinned again. Just now Farfarello had once again gracefully managed to evade Crawford's tries. "Slowly he's getting Braddy-boy going. Man, I didn't know that that stiff guy knew any such invectives. How long´s that going already?"

Nagi hinted another shrug of his shoulders. "Dunno. Quite a while. They started just after I put Farf into the coat."

#Crash!#

Another curse. "If that goes on, Weiß won't have furniture anymore." 

"Uh huh."

"What do you think, should we help him?"

… …

They both answered the question at the same time. "No."

Watching was so much more entertaining.  

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Aw, come on Aya! You yourself said that I shouldn't make such a fuss about a simple garment."

Trust Yohji to rub it in. True, the redhead had really said something like that after listening over an hour to the playboy´s complaints, but then he hadn't known about this. 

When the four had returned from their shift, a sight had greeted them that made them question their sanity. Crawford had been leaning in a chair, gasping and seemingly too exhausted to do anything more complicated than to breathe, though he seemed to try glaring at his German- and Japanese team-members. Schuldig and Nagi were standing by the wall, wearing serious faces and clapping their hands for some unknown reason to applaud. And then, most importantly, Farfarello sat on the ground with a straightjacket that looked suspiciously like Aya's trenchcoat. 

What a picture.

Yohji really couldn't see why Aya was so worked up about it. Wasn't malicious glee a fine thing? He decided to push it a bit further, returning the redhead's very own words. "After all it's just a coat." Ha, take that.

Obviously, that had been a bit too much for the redhead's self-control. Letting out a low growl, he seized Schuldig by his collar. "It was your idea, wasn't it?!" Seeing murder written in those eyes, Schuldig´s grin got a bit crooked. "N-Nein… No. It was solely his idea.[3]" 

Following the German's pointing hand, Aya turned to fix his glare on Crawford. A totally wasted effort, if you asked Yohji, since the Clairvoyant was still to busy trying to catch his breath to pay attention to any of them. Aya released his grip on the redhead and caught Brad instead in it, accidentally lifting the precognitive into the air since he was still caught in a kid's body. 

Crawford remained unimpressed, even through meeting the Fujimiya glare of death. Aya was really angry now, with Mastermind, he could've understand, but Brad…!

"What were you thinking about that?!" 

He stressed his question with a light shake. He didn't want to hurt Brad, after all. Not much. The leader of Schwarz returned his look coolly. "We needed a straightjacket for Farfarello so that we could get him to take his medication."

"Actually, it was just Brad. Brad and Farfie, that is. Naggs and I are totally innocent about it. Right, Braddy?"

The black-haired teen wriggled himself out of Abyssinian's grip and glared at the mind reader. Together with Aya there were two doing so. "Don't call me that." Schuldig couldn't help but grin at the possessiveness that had appeared in the other redhead's mind for a moment. _´Seems as if my suspicion's true.´_

Straightening his clothes, Crawford turned to Aya again. "Your coat was the only thing remotely usable as a straightjacket." 

Behind them, they heard somebody snigger. Aya in a straightjacket… Schuldig completed the amusement with a mental picture of the stoic Weiß redhead wrapped Farfarello-style in a cozy white straightjacket. The obligatory straps included, of course. He sent them to all except the glaring redhead in question. He wasn't _that_ desperate for suicide.      

Upon the renewed outburst of cheerfulness, Aya whirled around just to be met with three amazingly innocent looking members of Weiß as well as two indifferent looking ones of Schwarz. He frowned at them, suspecting what was going on. Behind him, Crawford rolled his eyes.  

/That wasn´t funny, Schuldig./  The German telepath smirked. /Really? You sure that you're not just being protective of your Aya-chan?/ The American frowned. /It was uncalled-for. And he's _not_ my Aya-chan./ 

Schuldig grinned. /Sure. The more you deny it, the more suspicious it is, ya know that Crawford?/ Crawford practically slammed his mental shields up in Schu´s face. /One point for the Mastermind, zero for dear Braddy./

Clearing his throat, Crawford said. "If you want your cloak back, you can take it whenever you want. Berserker already took his medication." Calling them by their code names normally meant that he was angry at them. Schuldig couldn´t understand why.^^ 

"However, I'd like to get out of range before you try that." Farfarello, who had been sitting on the floor, sulking, lifted his head. That sounded promising. Crawford seemed to be not in the mood anymore for another round of playing catch, after all. And they'd only played for a short time. (Pretty much the whole day, Farfie! ^^;)

…

The merry hunt just ended after Aya had decided to get his trusty katana once more and noticed the others making bets on the outcome of it. Pity them. 

Actually Yohji would have won since he'd betted that Aya wouldn't make it to get his cloth back. But that's irrelevant.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

That night, they used the same division of rooms they'd already had used the night before. 

Meaning that he and Brad had to spend the night with each other again. It also meant a sleepless night full of twisting and turning around to Aya. With the precog that near, thoughts and memories came to the redhead's mind, spinning around and around in his aching head. No wonder he couldn't sleep.

Though, this night, it was going to be different. 

Turning on his couch once again, Aya sensed something near his head. Somebody, to be exact. Looking up, surprised violet eyes met annoyed amber-brown ones. Brad looked pretty pissed. 

Taking a corner of the blanket that was covering the redhead's body into his hand, Brad yanked it all away with one big jerk. 

Aya shivered involuntarily as the cold night air hit his suddenly unprotected skin. He probably would've tried to get his blanket back, if the black-haired American hadn't gripped his wrist and simply tugged him to the bed. Reaching it, he pushed the still too surprised to properly react redhead onto it, grumbling something inaudible.

Then he vanished for a moment, just to appear seconds later with Aya´s bed linen, dumping it over the other man. "Don't give me the damn bed if you can't sleep on the couch! No human being can sleep with you twisting around like that!" 

And with this, he rounded the bed and crawled under his own covers on the other side of the mattress. Aya blinked. That certainly had been unexpected. Then another thought struck the redhead. He was sleeping with Brad. In the same bed. _´Great god…´_

All possible deities of heaven and hell seemed to have zeroed in on the poor Aya. Poor guy. To make it all worse, Brad had fallen asleep again, now twisting himself a bit. _´No. Nononono. Don't you dare doing that.´_ Ten minutes later found Aya with a peacefully sleeping Oracle snuggled up close to his chest. _´Great.´_ Rolling his eyes, Aya heaved a sigh. _´Somebody up there really has to hate me.´_

The redhead just thought about how to get out of that piquant situation – (Not that it was unpleasant, but should the clairvoyant wake up and find them still like this he was very likely to shoot Aya.) - when the American stirred slightly in his sleep. Aya frowned. Did the Oracle have a nightmare? Somehow that didn't sound very likely. Why would somebody as cold-blooded as Brad Crawford have nightmares? Apparently he still had them. Aya frowned as the shorter boy let out a soft whimpering sigh. 

Not really knowing what he should do, Aya carefully stretched his hand out and stroked slowly over the others raven-black hair. _´Seems to work.´_ Continuing his stroking Aya slowly relaxed himself, drifting of to sleep bit by bit. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Crawford waited until he was definitely sure that the redhead had fallen asleep before he opened his eyes, smirking. Seemed like his little scheme had worked. Good. Listening to the other trying to be silent and yet turning around on the couch every five minutes had been unnerving. The Oracle just hoped that they didn't have to pull off such a theatre every time they wanted to sleep. 

The Oracle frowned. _´Every time? Since when I'm planning on staying any longer than necessary?´_ He found no answer for that question. Pushing it on his sleepiness, the rejuvenated American decided to ignore this slip of thoughts. Carefully avoiding waking the other sleeping man, he crawled out of the bed and left the room. 

Shivering at the contact with the cold floor under his feet, Crawford silently set off to his goal, absentmindedly remembering Aya´s touch. Willing or not, he had to admit that it had felt nice to be touched like that. Pity that it wouldn't happen again… Frowning, Crawford made a disparaging noise in his head. _´Pity… Hmpf. Hold onto yourself Crawford. You don't need such things.´_

Despite his distracted state, the young precog immediately noticed the other person who was sneaking around in the corridors. Sighing audible, Crawford gave Farfarello a pointed look. 

"You still don't have enough?"

The albino grinned at him. Both men were too well trained as not to notice each others presence immediately. 

"What are you up to again? Just for the records, I'm not happy with the little performance you pulled there." 

Pale lips twisted into a feral smirk, while a sole amber eye glinted with amusement. "It hurt God." Sighing, Crawford shook his head. "It was not amusing." The Irishman grinned. "It was."

"I still don't see what you find interesting in playing crazy."  Farfarello just grinned again. It was a less known fact that the Irish berserker wasn't even anywhere near as crazy and dumb as some people seemed to think when they thought of a lunatic who had an aversion against God. The opposite, to be exact. Farfarello was very clever – when he wanted to. Example? He just pulled that ´hurting God´ number when he had a proper audience. The remaining members of Schwarz were normally spared of it. Normally. If he didn't have any other plans in the moment. 

Crawford just shook his head again, silent. "Come on." With that he led the way to his original destination, Nagi´s room. Schuldig was already there, together with the younger Prodigy and currently ´helping´ setting up his computer and equipment. Nagi looked as if he wanted to throw the intentionally annoying German out of the window. (Which already happened once.)      

Crawford resisted the urge to curse the telepath in his head. Schuldig definitely would have heard… and transferred his attention onto the American. 

"How is it going?"

Nagi grimaced. "I was already as good as done when _he decided that I was in the need of a little help." The German in question pulled a face. "Hey! You could at least be a tiny bit grateful! I was trying to help ya!" "Helping, my ass…" "Hey!"_

Crawford whacked them both on their head. "Itai!" "Au!" "Silent you two! Do you want to wake the whole apartment?" Nagi shrugged and turned back to finally fix his computer. "Gomen." I t was just a barely audible murmur. Schuldig grinned, lifted his hands so that they were easily visible and pointedly stepped away of the computer.

"It's working."

"Good. Now, I want you to hack into Estet´s computer system. There are some things I want to be sure of." Crawford smirked at their flabbergasted faces. The Oracle might not be able to always know everything, but he practically always knew where he had to look if that was the case.  

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

On the other side of the door, Aya lifted an eyebrow as he saw the other three members of Weiß already standing there.

Waving his hand in a fake greeting, Yohji grinned. 

_´So. Let's see what they're up to.´_

Instincts of trained assassins.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End chapter 17

[1] – Huh? I thought-    

[2] – I don't really know which language this is, but it means: the ones who have disappeared or: the vanished ones. 

[3] – No

Author ramblings: Wheee! Another chapter full of insanity!^^ Straight jackets are fun! As always, much MUCH thanks for the reviews, I greatly appreciate them!^_^

Happy eastern and please review, ne?^.^


	18. 18 nightly encounters

Disclaimer: Honestly, you'd know by now if I'd own Weiß Kreuz.

Picaro: Gya~h! Back from hell! Finals are in their full run here and I barely get to use to computer. Sorry about the horribly long time it took me to up-date! ^.^;; Anyway, here it is, the next chapter of ´What he certainly hadn't planned´ and a extra warning for the fact that there´re any clichés left that I've let out in this. ^_~

What he certainly hadn't planned

Chapter 18

The signs scrolled down the screen as Crawford watched patiently. 

Jilocasin - French, 31 Years, Telepathy

Kitten O´Loch – Scotswoman, 22 Years, Empathy

Markus Stiller – German, 25 Years, Telekintec Powers

Memoiré – Nationality Unknown, 19 Years, Clairvoyance..

As expected. Naturally all the information in the Estet central system was encoded. The organisation held many members that set great store on not being named there. About half of them didn't even know of this list. Estet didn't like snoopers. 

Passing all their security measures, walls, and other grimcrackery to keep out everybody who shouldn´t be there was quite difficult--though not nearly hard enough to withstand Naoe Nagi of Schwarz for long. Now there was just the decoding left. Crawford waited patiently, watching calmly as the signs were one by one replaced by letters. Soon they´d know who exactly they were fighting. At the same time he also kept an eye out in the future. Despite their foolish arrogance, the tracing methods of their former employing organisation were pretty good. Nothing compared to what Schwarz had, but still good enough to become a problem, should they ever get caught.

Not that that was very likely, with Nagi.

Still, better to be careful now than later regret it. The immediate future was clear, though. No problems to come. Once in a while Crawford would tell Nagi a password, but otherwise everything stayed calm. 

Schuldig couldn't get rid of the feeling that it was going a bit _too smoothly, though. First such a fuss to get hold of them and now nothing? Good joke.  _

No, they would certainly have set some sort of booby trap or something. It was one of the main reasons they all were gathered here in the middle of the night. If there were a trap, there would be at least one of them who would be able to disable it. 

Next to him, Crawford suddenly stiffened for a second before relaxing again. /Something wrong Braddykins?/ No answer.

Schuldig frowned. _´No answer?´_ That wasn't a good sign. Normally Crawford always had some sort of equal reply ready for the redhead's taunting. _`Didn´t he hear me?´_

"Hey… Crawford."

The black-haired American still didn't react. In return Nagi and Farfarello were now watching him. "Schu? Is something wrong?" The German frowned at the boy´s questioning tone. Meeting Farfarello´s single gaze, he shook his head slowly. 

"Nein, nothing. Crawford´s just having one of his visions."

Despite the reassuring words, Nagi now also frowned. _´Just a vision?´_ It was a open secret that the clairvoyant´s visions tended to be bad ones. Advance warnings, like Schuldig had called them once. Crawford didn´t have _just_ one of his visions.

"Egal [1]. Continue." Seeing the youth´s undecided look, he added. "I don´t think he´d be happy to hear that we were caught just because he was staring holes into the air." Nagi hinted a nod. 

"Hai."

The brunette swiftly turned and started attacking the keys with renewed speed. Farfarello cocked his head. /What's wrong with him?/ Schuldig silently shook his head again, taking care that their youngest member wouldn't take notice of it. The least thing they needed was a distracted hacker right now.

/I can't reach him./ The Irish psychopath gave him a questioning look. Normally Schuldig was able to reach any of them immediately. It mighty be a one-way connection, but they always heard him when he wanted them to. Schuldig frowned. /No. I think it's a vision, but it's a damn long one./

The long span of Crawford´s mental absence was disturbing. Schuldig knew him more than long enough to know that a normal vision took barely more than a few seconds, if even that. Usually they had passed as soon as you realized that the pre-cog was having one. (Which was a good thing, if you asked Schuldig. Otherwise some of their trips with Crawford driving would have taken a much more unpleasant ending.) But now it had already taken about five minutes. _´Definitely something wrong.´_

/Schu?/ 

The German reacted immediately. /What is it?/ /His breathing is getting slow./ "What?!" Whirling around, he realized that the turned teen Oracle was really barely breathing. 

"Fuck!!"

Now he could also feel the waves of mental struggling. 

Suddenly all happened in a rush. One second Crawford was still standing there, blank eyes staring at nothing, the next he let out a sharp strangling gasp as his hands were hectically raised to his throat seemingly clawing at nothing. The next he had already dropped to the ground. 

"Crawford!"

Schuldig immediately rushed to his side, trying to make out the source of the American´s problems and undo it. "Scheiße![2]" There was nothing. No sign of the use of telekinetic powers whatsoever. Then he noticed the precog's eyes. Despite his desperate struggling they were unfocused, a clear sign that their leader was still caught up in his vision. 

The redhead cursed. _´Whatever's attacking him, it's attacking him inside!´_ So there _had_ been a booby trap. Just not for Nagi but for Crawford. Schuldig cursed again while trying to keep the boy's hands down. Crawford's attempts to get air again had gotten frantic by now, frantic enough that the Oracle was in danger of hurting himself if he didn't get restrained soon.

"Somebody's strangling him." Schuldig took himself enough time to throw a glare at Farfarello. "We have to wake him!" 

"Farf! Help me restrain him! Nagi, back to the computer! Get that goddamned data! They wouldn't have laid such a trap if it wasn't important!" 

The two quickly did as told. While Farfarello was holding Crawford, Schuldig quickly used the chance and dove into the American´s head. _´Damn!´_ Closed?! Even while in a vision that damn guy had his mental shields closed tightly. The self-assured expression vanished from his eyes. _´Then the attacker's no telepath.´_ That was bad. Really bad. If it were just another telepath launching an attack at their leader, Schuldig would have easily been able to prove to him how unhealthy that was. He also would've been able to detect any telekinetic penetrator with ease. But like this… It was in the middle of the vision.

"We have to wake him!"

Farfarello gave him a questioning look. How were they supposed the wake the clairvoyant in the middle of a vision? They didn´t even know if that was possible. Schuldig grimaced. Crawford had stopped struggling by now, his breath coming in unruly disjointed intervals. What was bothering the German more, though, was the rough, scratching sound that accompanied each breath.

'We have to get him out of it. Now!' Ignoring his worries about what might happen to the American´s mind if he was forcefully torn out of a vision (He'd heard quite a few interesting stories about it, though other people would rather tend to call them nasty.), he bent forward and did something he´d wanted to do more than once in the past. 

Crawford didn't react when his hand connected with his face. _´Shit!´_ Maybe a bit harder… Still nothing. Schuldig started panicking. Crawford´s breath was barely existent, by now. _´Shit! ShitshitshitshitSHIT!! Come on, you bastard. Wake up!!´_ He didn't notice that he had yelled the last words out loud, nor did he notice that Nagi was watching them closely, wearing a worried expression instead of his usual indifferent mask.

Schuldig cursed again, doubling his affords. Wishing somebody to drop dead once in a while was one thing. – Seeing him _doing_ it was something completely different! And nothing the German wanted to watch, if I might add.

"Come! On! Wake! Up!"

Each word was empathized with a slap. 

Crawford suddenly decided to hit back.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

About four hours later, Crawford was still wide-awake, though now alone. No wonder… Listless amber-brown eyes glanced at the watch, seeking out the time. The digital display read 4:37. The sleek boy sighed not so silently. 

_´Past half five… Great. That means that I've been sitting here for over four beaten hours.´_ Blinking his sleepiness away, he shifted into a more comfortable position. _´…really great.´_

Some minutes passed, where the American oracle just listened to the soft sound of the other one breathing. Finally shifting another bit, he asked quietly. "Are you planning on standing there for a long time?"

At the sound of the soft, yet firm voice, the person who had leaned by the doorframe till now moved, placing himself next to Crawford on the couch. Ignoring the slightly arched eyebrow, he met Crawford´s eyes cooly. "You knew that I was watching you?"

Crawford´s lips quirked slightly at that question, though it was a lot different from what he´d would have given the Japanese redhead just a month ago. "Forgotten? I´m a precognitive. And I also can easily sense when I'm getting watched." Allowing his smirk to widen a bit, he gave the redhead a mildly amused glance. "Though I didn´t know that it was _you_, Aya." 

The redhead nodded slowly. "Aa…" Lifting some papers, he continued. "Omi and Nagi managed to decode the data." Crawford arched an eyebrow, his strange warm/not warm amber-brown eyes displaying slight curiousity. Currently, the Oracle was more interested in why the Weiß assassin was here, though, than in the papers. Most likely they would only confirm what he´d already figured out anyway. 

But Aya´s presence ‑ that was more fascinating. For once because the other assassin had seated himself next to him, not near enough to invade the precog´s personal space (which Crawford absolutely couldn´t stand) but definitely close enough to count. The American wouldn´t have expected him to do that. From what he could tell, the redheaded leader of Weiß wasn´t somebody to drop grudges that easily. – And one could definitely count Crawford´s playing with Weiß´ trust as a good enough reason to anger the Japanese. 

But yet it was Yohji who seemed to be the one who was the most upset with it, and Aya still sat here close to him. Also it was no illusion produced by his sleep-hazed mind.

All the while Aya was sitting there calmly, watching him carefully. Strangely, it was that display of possible care that irritated Crawford the most.

Pushing the strange feeling away, he took the offered paper to put them away after skimming through them absentmindedly. It was as expected. Looking up, he noticed with mild amusement that Aya was watching him questionally. 

"Curious?"

He offered him the sheets. Giving them a brief look, Aya shook his head. Lifting a fine eyebrow again, Crawford put them away. "So?"

Stern violet eyes met his gaze and caught it calmly. For a moment Aya seemed to struggle for the right words. Also a new thing on the redhead, Crawford noted with fascination. Normally he was able to predict others people's moves by merely spending some time with them, but the redhead kept surprising him. First he had been able to understand his actions, the moment when Weiß found out who he really was, then there was still that strange devotion the redhead seemed to develop every time he attached himself to something or –one. To predict _him_, Crawford had to use his gift. Though he´d never let that shine through. 

"So what?"

Aya sighed inwardly. Seemed like Brad wanted to be stubborn. "Why are you sitting in the living room at five o´clock?" The American cocked his head ever so slightly. "It isn´t five o´clock yet."

"It´ll be soon."

"I know."

Obviously he didn´t want to answer. Giving the Schwarz leader a serious look that could even be interpreted as a mild frown, he said. "Hn." That made the precog´s lips twich into a quirk ever so slightly. Aya noted it along with the boy's bleary-eyed state. 

_´He looks like he hasn´t slept at all tonight.´_ The thought caused him to frown. He also noted that the black-haired boy looked kinda cute while trying not to fall asleep. More tousled and relaxed. _´Kind of cute.´_ No, scratch that! The idea of the cold-calculating Oracle Brad Crawford and the term ´cute´ in the same thought was absolutely impossible.

"You have seen what happened." The Oracle shrugged. "After that I figured that I´d prefer some time alone - thinking." The American blinked, surprised. Why had he added that last bit? He never ever told anyone more than necessary.

Aya raised an eyebrow. "You knew that we were watching?" Crawford smirked at him. "Of course we knew. Schuldig and I at last, that is." The redhead nodded silently. Of course. Hoping to pass by unnoticed while dealing with a telepath and a clairvoyant would've been naïve.

"So… when you… it looked as if you were attacked…What was that?" He tried not to stare at the faint strangling marks that had appeared at the clairvoyant`s throat by now. It really looked as if someone had tried to strangle the Oracle. Back then, earlier that night, Aya´s first instict had been to rush into the room, push the other redhead away and try to help Brad himself. 

Just the fact that he probably would've worsened the situation rather than make it better, and that Yohji, Ken, and Omi had been with him had kept him from doing it. Although, if he´d known how, he wouldn´t have given a damn if the three were watching or not. Seeing somebody else you cared about dying and not being able to help was an awful feeling.

Though Brad hadn't died, of course. Aya siliently gritted his theeth. Damn! He´d done it again. He had – if just to himself – admitted that Brad had started to become more and more important to him during these past days he´d spent with them. _´Hah! ´Started´ is good!´_

Becoming aware that Brad was watching him with a slightly amused, slightly sarcastic look, he quickly redirected his attention to the black-haired boy. _´Boy… ´_He wondered how long they could still keep this up. After all Brad _wasn´t_ a boy, and they knew it. He was Crawford, and as the leader of Schwarz, probably one of the most dangerous people to Weiß. Still Aya couldn´t bring himself to view him as an enemy anymore. 

Studying him, Crawford intentionally dragged the time before he answered, carefully weighing his words before he spoke. "That… what you have seen is called a backlash syndrom under people with psychic powers. Each type of psychic has his own sorts of backslashes, and what you saw was one of them." 

He stroked his fingers over the faint marks, indicating that he was well-aware of them. "Telepaths are very prone to them. Even telekinetics, which are far less psychically stressed have them." 

"And precognitives?"

Crawford blinked, pleasantly surprised that the younger man was paying him attention. He hadn´t assumed that it´d interest Aya that much. On the other side, it could also be that his interest was barely reasoned in finding a possible weakness in Schwarz. But that wasn´t very likely. Not with the redhead. 

So, instead of avoiding the question, Crawford allowed a smirk to pass his features as he answered. "We don´t tend to have them very often, but when we have, than they´re serious."

He gave Aya a serious look, watching to see if the redhead understood what he was telling him. A fine eyebrow was risen as violet eyes watched him intentionally. 

"Serious?"

Crawford nodded. "Serious. That this night was a ´recoiling´ backlash. It means that whatever harm´s done to you in your vision, it also happens to your real body."

"Like what happened to you."

"Yes. Those strangling marks…" He pushed his collar away, granting the redhead an even better sight to the full extend of them. "…are the best proof for it. Another version of such a backslash is what we call a ´loop´. " Aya could feel himself tense at that. _´Another…-?` _

Unimpressed, Crawford continued. "A ´loop´ is when a vision's seen more often than once. Normally, that wouldn't be such a big issue, but…" He trailed off. Aya blinked. 

"But?"

"… Sometimes these loops don't stop. Dealing with the right issue, they have already caused more than one precognitive to suicide. If they were lucky." 

Aya shuddered internally. Despite the casual way Brad was talking about it, there was an air of foreboding attached to his words that made cold shivers run up his spine. It reminded the redhead of the time when he'd witnessed Schwarz's reactions to the other manipulated psychics. There was more attached to this subject than the American was willing to talk about, and Aya respected his wish. Why actually, he wasn't sure.

"If this happened, it was usually called experiencing a ´killer loop´." Amber-brown eyes gave Aya a strange look before his features turned sarcastic once again. "Humorous, isn't it?"

Aya stayed silent. Not knowing how to react to such information, he figured that it was the best choice anyway. Apparently Brad didn´t even expect him to answer. The silence between them stretched, as they both sat on the couch, each one absorbed in their own thoughts.

It was Aya who finally broke the silence. "How did they do it? Attack you in your vision." Crawford shrugged. "It´s actually not that difficult. All they need to have is either a telepath or another clairvoyant. And, according to this-" He pointed at the papers. "-they have both."

He watched Aya raise an eyebrow again. Obviously he had also noticed the catch to it. "Can somebody have two talents at the same time?" 

"To that extent? No." Double-talents were very rare, and should one shown up, they were never developed strong enough to be of any practical use. From his earlier ecperience and what Schuldig had told him about the other telepath, Crawford could be sure to say that were two different people who had attacked them.

Aya frowned. "How many files are there?" Crawford didn´t have to check the papers to know the answer. "Four." The redhead gritted his teeth. 

"A telekinetic, a telepath, an empath, another telekinetic and one a clairvoyant also." He gave the American a stern look. "That makes five." 

"Exactly."

"A free lancer?" Aya frowned. Somehow he didn´t like the idea of Estet recruiting freelances now. Noticing Brad´s amused expression, he gave him a questioning look.

The precognitive smirked. "We must have shaken them quite a bit if they already have to call for help from outside." Taking in the redhead´s surprised look, he continued to explain. "It means that they haven´t managed to re-group properly yet. The lower heads are fighting each other, and it looks like we´re the one thing that can tip the scales."

Aya nodded slowly, giving him a thoughtful look. If those people thought that they were responsible for the detonation back then, and if they further knew about Schwarz's betrayal –it was pretty obvious that those four wouldn´t return to Estet- … It all made sense. 

"Weiß and Schwarz are on their hit list." 

Brad nodded. "The one who was attacking me mentioned something about being set on me some time ago before the incident with the ritual."

"You think she's the one who´s responsible for this?" 

Crawford just shrugged. "Maybe."   

He let some minutes pass before he stood up and silently walked in the direction of where the clock was standing. Picking it up, he focused his eyes on the red, glowing digits. Aya watched silently, taking in the way the red glow illuminated Brad's features in one way, then another. The silence stretched.

"Why are you doing this?"

Crawford's hands stopped (he was absentmindedly playing with the clock). Not turning, he asked with a calm voice.

"Doing what?"

"Lying." Brad's hands froze. Actually, the whole Oracle froze at that question. Aya watched for his reaction (or rather the lack of them. For somebody like Brad, you knew more when you watched how he _didn't_ react to something.) The same way Aya also knew that the American had at least not told him the whole truth about his being here.

"… I didn´t lie."

„But you also didn't tell the truth." Crawford still didn't react. It somehow fascinated Aya with the way the black-haired boy was holding the clock. It's dim light covered his face in light and shadows in a way that made him look much more adult. Much more like himself.    

Red and black… Like the dark beast he was. Aya frowned slightly at the thought. Thinking of Brad Crawford as a dark beast brought up the thought of what Aya would be doing if Kritiker would ever order them to hunt them down. _´I wouldn't do it.´_ The conclusion was as simple as it was final. If they were to face Schwarz on the battlefield again, Aya wouldn't be able to do it. 

Not anymore. Not after he knew about the frail other side that was hidden under his oh-so-perfect behaviour and icy proud. Even now, the American's posture was upright as if it were cut out from one of those textbooks. Nothing about him revealed that he had just been caught lying. Aya knew very well that ´thinking´ hadn't been the only thing Brad had done.

In his head, Crawford cursed silently. Damn. Despite the nearly non-existing dim light Aya had noticed them. He didn't need to see to know that Aya had risen an eyebrow at his behaviour.

"Don't you want to deny it?"

Brad shrugged. "If it's true." Aya´s look got critical. "You were doing it again." Of course the redhead had noticed the fine red scratches on his arm, even though Brad had been careful not to let him see. ´_He's done it again. He hurt himself again. Why does he keep doing this?´ _Outwardly, he just asked. "Why?" 

Aya noted that his voice sounded a lot calmer and collected than he really was. Force of habit. Shrugging his shoulders ever so slightly, Brad turned around. The black-haired American teen was facing him now, though he kept holding his head in a way that his raven bangs kept blocking his eyes from being visible. At this moment, Aya would have given much for being able to know what was going on behind those golden-brown depths. But no such luck.

Returning his stare for a silent moment, Brad slowly followed his look, tracing his fingers over the faint scratch marks that were on his forearm near his elbow. After considering a minute, he answered.

"That? They weren't intentional."

His voice sounded strange to his own ears. It was obvious that Aya didn't believe him. "I'm telling you the truth." That statement earned him a thoughtful look. Crawford sighed. _´Well, guess Aya´s right to be suspicious.'_

Returning to his seat on the couch , he gave the Weiß assassin a serious look. His next action surprised the redhead.

Lowering his eyes, Brad turned his head away. Staring for a moment into the darkened room, he finally heaved a deep sigh before meeting Aya´s gaze again. "Look, Aya, it's true that I sometimes intentionally hurt myself." He searched for a reaction in the others eyes. "But it's also true that I didn't do it this time." Another doubtful glance. Crawford groaned inwardly.

Raising a hand, he placed it over his other arm. His fingers laid exactly were the scratches began. Aya´s amethyst gaze followed every move. "I _was_ thinking. Over this whole mess and how to get out of it again..." 

Aya´s eyes widened slightly. While he was speaking, Brad's fingers had slowly clenched into a fist, pressing roughly over the skin underneath. If he had done this more often that night, it would explain the marks. But what was serious enough to trigger such an obvious sign of nervousness from somebody as collected as Brad? 

Noticing his inquiring look, Brad once again moved his head a bit, so that the shadows blocked the view of his face. Like this, it was hard to tell the expression the Oracle held. 

"It was exactly a week after my twelfth birthday when they came and claimed me as their property. Ever since then my visions kept getting stronger." A small shuffle of clothes. "Useful, but of course it also had its disadvantages. The bigger the raise in my power, and the longer my visions lasted, the harder it got for me to distinguish between them and the real ´Now´." 

He paused for a moment, still not willing to meeting the other's eyes. "That was when I started to inflict myself little wounds, using the pain as an anchor for what was real." A small smirk passed his lips. "Naturally nothing major that could be noticed easily. I always take good care that nobody notices. You were the first one."

"What about your family?" Aya couldn't believe that anyone would be so willing to let go of their child. Especially not at such a young age. The smirk on Crawford's lips grew bitter. "Family? There was nothing like that. My only function to them was as their little prophecy-machine. ´Ooo, Bradley my boy, don't you want to tell me the future so that mommy can quickly go and win the lottery?´" The last sentence was cooed in a fake, over-sugary tone that seemed to express a bit of what the clairvoyant felt on that issue. 

"When I finally decided to fake some of my predicaments, they put an advertisement into the net and sold me to the highest bidder, Estet. End of the story." As he ended his speech, Brad's voice was no longer calm and controlled but a heated, angry growl. Seemingly the betrayal of those that were once assigned to protect him and that had used and thrown him away still hurt.

Aya felt immediately bad for asking. Almost bad enough that he failed to notice the strange look in Brad's eyes. Nearly.

"What?"

The confused question combined with the redhead's puzzled expression did it. Crawford couldn't help but start laughing. Aya blinked, even more confused, only to send the precognitive teen into another fit of laughter.

Dark, deep and velvety, Aya liked the sound of the other's chuckles, especially since they seemed to be honest. Still, somehow he couldn't get rid of the raising feeling that it was him the clairvoyant was laughing about. He didn't like to be laughed at.

Aya frowned, making it a hard time for Crawford to keep his just-regained seriousness and not to start laughing again. Seeing the ice-cold leader of Weiß pouting like a little child was a very amusing view. 

Trying to conceal his mirth and not quite succeeding, (though he did a remarkable good job) he said. "Sorry. I was just testing how good you have already gotten at seeing through my mask." He didn't sound sorry at all. More complacent. Aya frowned again, nearly sending the Oracle chuckling again. Crawford idly wondered if the redhead had even the slightest clue how obviously he was broadcasting his emotions right then. ´_Probably not.´ Smirking ever so slightly, he added as an explanation. _

"I lied. I made the story up the second I told it to you. Nothing of it all is true."

Seeing the others half-surprised, half-angered expression, he started chuckling again. "I'm glad to see that I'm not that obvious yet." He smirked at the redhead as he stood up and sauntered to the doorway. 

On an afterthought, though, he stopped short in the doorway to throw a last comment to the still-sitting redhead. 

"Can't make it too easy for you, ne?"

The question and the way it was voiced startled Aya more than enough to allow Crawford to make a graceful exit.

Chuckling silently to himself, the American carelessly wandered through the empty corridors of the apartment, not really caring where he was going. His little performance had more than succeeded to cheer him up again. Okay, so fooling the stoic leader of Weiß just to prove himself that he hadn't lost his edge yet was more than petty. Still, the black-haired one couldn't help but feel good about it. And a little exercise couldn't do any harm, right? 

After all it was him who was supposed to influence the future and not the other way round. Possessing some actor skills came in handy at such situations, and Crawford couldn't get rid of the sinking feeling tat he'd need them much sooner than he'd like.

_´… I hope he's not angry at me for it.´_ Crawford shook his head at that thought. Nonsense. Why should he care if Aya was angry at him or not? They were just rivals that were working for a limited time together to defeat a mutual enemy. Also he came closer to see through his iron mask than everybody else before had, and it made Crawford feel uncomfortable. 

It was simply too risky for his taste. _´He seemed truly worried about me… I really hope he's not too upset. ´_ Argh! Gritting his teeth, Crawford quickened his speed.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Still in the living room, Aya was anything but upset. More relieved, if had to admit it to himself. He'd wish nobody such a life as the leader of Schwarz had described, especially not to Brad. Don't ask what he'd thought about the last part a month ago though. 

Sighing silently, the redhead stood up, stretching his stiffened muscles. _´Strange…´_ He hadn't even noticed that he'd tensed over conversation. No wait, that had happened some where between where Brad had looked at him that strangely and when he'd sat down close enough that the redhead had been able to clearly feel his presence next to him. It felt as if he were so close… He just had had to go and ruin it, hadn't he?

_´Calling him a liar… Just what was I thinking doing that?!´_ Reflecting back, Aya was pretty sure that it had been that command which had upset the Oracle. _´How stupid of me.´_ And there he had been hoping for so much more of the outcome of this meeting.

_´Baka, baka, baka! What did you think?! That he'd break down crying just that you can go and comfort him? This is not one of those horrible mushy soaps on TV, you idiot! It's real life!´_ Of course it was real life. Knowing this, Aya had tried to expect as little as possible from this encounter. Still, he couldn't help but still feel a bit disappointed.

_´Such a good chance wasted.´  _

After chasing the others back into their rooms and returning to his own, Aya had spent much time thinking about this issue. It was painfully obvious that he wanted something from Brad by now. If even the others were slowly beginning to notice… He clearly remembered the strange looks he had received from Yohji and Omi after he'd nearly run into the room were Schwarz was assembled. Hell, even Ken had noticed and had been giving him a worried look! So, after a hard time giving himself headaches over the issue, he'd decided that he had no other choice left than to simply trying his luck with the precognitive. After all, the intangible clairvoyant had managed to do something that nobody else had done for a very long time: Fascinate him enough that he was actually starting to feel again against his better knowledge.

Well, his first try had surely been a ´great´ success.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Behind the closed door of his room – he ignored the fact that he was actually the visitor and the other occupant the owner – Schuldig chuckled to himself.

_´So the red kitty really is interested in Crawford.´_ A mischievous smirk formed on his lips, as jaded green eyes sparkled with glee. _´Maybe I should help him a bit in attaining what he wants.'_

Ooh yes, he could already imagine the stiff American's stunned expression…. And that Fujimiya boy seemed to be serious about him. He grinned. As soon as they'd meet the next time, he'd have to take him to the side and talk to him, offer him some advice…. Maybe even some practical help… After all, Crawford deserved it. He'd just tried to help him when he'd slapped the clairvoyant repeatedly, there hadn't been any need to hit back that hard.

The German redhead was practically beaming with anticipation as he went back to bed. That the counter strike could have been a mere, intentional reaction didn't account to him. 

Not if there were so many more amusing options.

_ _ _ _ _

End Chapter 18

[1]  - Doesn´t matter.

[2] – Shit!/Fuck!

*grins* A bit a different ending than one would've expected for this chappie, ne? Blame it on my confused mind and please forgive me the awful way this chapter was written in, I promise to be better next time. 

Thanks and huggles for reviewing to: Rei Eien, Elfsong, The Mgician of Black Chaos, futagoakuma-tenshi01, Lil Yu Jah, Aysen, Rose (Thanks for buggin´ me out of my w block!^_~), Dje (^___^), weee, bea-chan, S.Wing, stray cat, Ryuje-naoe (other things to do with a straightjacket-trenchcoat….*blush* ^.^), futagoakuma-tenshi02, Shuo ri (Wha! Don´t say such things to me. It could give me even more strange ideas!… Oops, too late.^.~), PinkSpider, shirogane (^_^;) and Kyra. – To your question… I´m not answering it here ´cause it contain some spoilers for the stories further progressing. If you want, I´ll mail it to you instead. So this was enough rambling for one chapter! 

Want to read the next chapter soon? Then please review! The more reviews I get the faster I´m working. ^^

PS: Am searching for somebody who's able to speak/read Japanese. If you do, please mail me!^.^


	19. 19 A little bit of this, a little bit o...

**Authors speech**: Well, what to say? The last three months have been just hell for me, thus the more than late update. I ended up having a complete breakdown, followed by one of my computer.^_^; The whole mess got just fixed last week and well, here's the new chapter!

**Notes:** I´d like to dedicate this chapter as well as a great thank-you hug to **Rose, Ryuke-Naoe, Rei** and **Bea-chan**. You're great! I don't know what I've done without your great aid, you're the best!^__^ Also, I finally gave up on the rating and made this a R story. I don't really know why yet, but I'm sure you'll find a reason if you just keep looking. ^_~  

Disclaimer: not mine, not mine, not mine…!*starts weeping*

**What he certainly hadn't planned**

Chapter 19

"Can't make it too easy for you, ne?"

The words, accompanied with a challenging smirk replayed themselves over and over in Aya´s head for the rest of the night. What had that been? Had it been an invitation to come and try to get him or-? _´Hell! If I'd just- !´_ Had he been serious now or had it been just another one of his mind games. _´He certainly seems to like to mess around with me.´_ The thought did not come without a small amount of bitterness. Twisting up his face, Aya continued staring at the ceiling. 

It was already 6:34 AM.

Brad had still not returned to the room.

_´Argh! To hell with it!´ _

Standing up, Aya swiftly threw over some covers and left to look for the missing Oracle. (Despite all, there was no way he would let the others go around and see him roaming the houses corridors with nothing else on than his boxers. Well…except Brad maybe.) Flinching, Aya cursed himself. There he was again. Out of some reason all of his thoughts seemed always to center on one subject: Brad Crawford. 

_´Slowly this is getting to be a problem.´_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

He didn't have to search for long.

Sure enough, the precognitive in question sat/lay curled up on the living rooms couch, having fallen asleep there. Looking down at the gently breathing form, Aya didn't know whether to scowl or to smile at such unlikely behaviour. 

_´You're the leader of one of the world's most dangerous assassination groups; can't you be a little more responsible?´_ He grinned faintly at that thought, knowing just too well how unfitting it was. Still, Brad Crawford, sleeping on their living room couch and looking like he couldn't care less about what was going to happen in the future for all he was worth was a sight worth remembering. 

For a moment the redhead wholeheartedly mourned that he hadn't brought a camera before his practical part kicked back in. _´That position can't be comfortable.´_ Rounding the couch so that he was now standing in front of it, Aya sighed silently to himself. What now? If he left him like this, the American was probably going to have a knot in his neck when he woke up. The Weiß´s leaders first instinct told him to lift the sleeping boy from the couch and carry him to the bed…

On the other side, who guaranteed him that the rejuvenated leader of Schwarz wasn't going to wake up? He imagined what he was going to say if that possibility happened. ´Uh, good morning…? I just thought that you'd probably get a real sore neck if you kept sleeping like that-´ He imagined the Oracle's reaction to that. 

Not very likely. Fighting down the faint blush that had starting to colour his cheek at the thought of the other being ´sore´ -and scolding himself for his sudden perverted nature- Aya frowned at the sleeping form. _´That's all your fault.´_

What did the guy have to go ahead and deceive his employers when they were performing that weird ritual? Why did he have to get himself turned fifteen again? Why did he have to lose his consciousness in an alley where they were bound to find him when they returned from a mission? And why, oh why, did he have fall in love with him?! Aya had no answer.

_´Somebody up there really must either love or hate me._´ He shook his head lightly. _´Brad Crawford. Why the hell did it have to be Brad Crawford? Out of all people, he's the least likely person one would fall for.´ _He sighed. _´But on the other hand…´_

…it really was no wonder that he was attracted. Sharp yet youthful features, raven-coloured black hair with bangs that was continuously being tousled, a pair of ever-so-slight almond-shaped eyes - Aya guessed that there were some Asian influences back in his family - dominated by eyes of a colour that'd do a tiger honour. Not to mention his confident behaviour that could evoke trust in his ability and fear just the same…along with an all in all gorgeous body…

Aya had to quickly shake his head to clear it of these thoughts. Shit! What was he doing! While watching the other, the picture of the Brad Crawford he'd been fighting and the younger one he'd with living with had been beginning to blur, making it very hard for him to regain self-control. Despite all, he'd managed to avoid getting completely shotacon over that matter until now, though more of his thoughts –especially some of the pictures- belied the truth of that. It was becoming a very hard trial indeed. Somehow he couldn't imagine Crawford getting all too happy about that image.

Wait- He'd just called him Crawford, right? Crawford, not Brad… that was it! If he managed to continue thinking about the other like that he'd probably make it to carry him over to their room and keep a straight face in case the other should wake. _´All right. Here we go…´ _

Pushing his hand under the sleeping form he gently scooped him up. Standing there, he was for a moment surprised at the other's lack of weight. Aya carefully shifted until his position until he was sure to have him in a save hold. 

For someone who would later become such well-developed martial artist –Aya had neither forgotten the time the American had caught his katana with his bare hands nor the fact that his boxing moves were ´stunning´ to say the least (more in the knock-out with a single hit area) as he'd learned from experience. – he was surprisingly light at this age. Well, he was surprisingly small with his approximately five feet something as well. To imagine that he would later grow to nearly seven feet…

It really was amazing. Nothing to ponder on about right now, though. Clearing his head, Aya focussed rather on the task at hand and started -a lot more careful than before- his way back to his room.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

He felt his infamous smirk crawl over his lips as he watched the scene from afar. _´Aww, how cuute! Aya-chan´s scared to wake Bradley-boy up if he touches him!´ Schuldig barely kept from snickering. If they'd known they were having an audience, his life would be at peril in an instant. _

The smirk widened even more as he caught some less than innocent thoughts starring his leader from the other redhead. _´Whoa. Didn't think that he had that in him.´_ An especially graphic picture found its way into his head, and the German's bluish-green eyes went wide. _´…I don't think that position's possible without breaking at least several bones- including the back...´ Why did people always think that he was the perverted one anyway? One look at what some of the Weiß kitties had in their heads… Guess it was simply the appearance._

Who'd ever thought that Fujimya would've been able to imagine such things… Ne, he'd even been thinking about doing them! And with Crawford of all people… Schuldig howled inwardly with laughter. Imagining these two together in bed was just too much for him. _´God! We'll always have to make sure they won't bring their weapons with them when they're at it…´ _An image of those two threatening each other with their weapons about who was going to be on top while sitting in bed came up in his mind. Schuldig barely kept himself from giggling like a gleeful little child. _´Ooo, that's going to be _so_ good…!´ _

Now he just had to make sure that Fujumiya wasn't going to spoil it. Watching the Japanese's awkward struggling, Schuldig leaned carelessly against the doorframe_. __´Seine guten Absichten in Ehren, aber er benimmt sich echt wie der erst Mensch.[1]´ The thought brought an amused sneer on his face. __´You're lucky that I'm here to help you.´ _

Ah! Obviously Abyssinian had finally decided to take action. It didn't take him long to spot Schuldig. _´And there we already had an ideal chance to improve our lives a lot…´_

He smirked. 

[1] His intention's doing him honour, but he's really behaving like the first human being.

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Aya frowned suspiciously at the smirking German. He was looking all too pleased for his personal taste.

"What are you doing here?"

Schuldig grinned broadly. 

"Why, Aya-chan, so distrustful? I was just enjoying the sweet view of you two."

Violet eyes narrowed. Aya didn't like the suddenly cute way the other was speaking. The telepath's eyes glittered roguishly. 

"Aw, come on, there's no need to be that unfriendly. After all the bad times we've given each other…"

"As much as I can remember, it was rather one-sided."

Aya´s voice had dropped several inches below the freezing point. He was sure now. He didn't like that obnoxiously importunate guy. He didn't like the way he was drawling the words he thought were specially amusing, he didn't like the way his eyes were glittering as he was watching them, and he most definitely didn't like the way he kept staring at Brad! 

Schuldig backed away from the furious amethyst eyes, raising his hand in a mock protectively gesture. "Hey, hey, hey, Aya, no need to get all that riled up. I don't want a thing from Braddy here."

Aya´s eyes narrowed. "Braddy?" He instinctively clutched the sleeping Oracle closer to his chest.

Schuldig sweatdropped. _´Uh-oh. __There's a jealous one.´_ The thought of the Weiß leader thinking that he and stiff Crawford could have a thing going between them almost made him laugh. Knowing what was better for his health, he kept it to himself, though. 

Trying to look as serious as possible he gave the suspicious redhead in front of him a (what he hoped) stern look. "Umm…, I don't think he likes that." He pointed at Crawford's sleeping form, which had begun to stir. Following the telepath's indication, Aya noticed it too. An almost panicked expression appeared in his eyes. Schuldig once again found himself hard-pressed not to laugh.

"Just hold still."

Aya immediately froze. For a minute nothing happened. Then Crawford squirmed a bit more and, cuddling his head up against Aya´s warm chest, fell asleep again with a gentle moan. 

Both redheads had frozen with anticipation when the black-haired youth first had started moving. Schuldig allowed himself to relax with a little sigh, noting the faint blush that had found its way on the other redhead's face. And started snickering.

_´…´_ Aya didn't know what to think. Was this now hell or was it heaven? Somewhere he could feel the heat creep up his face and silently cursed his pale complexion, which showed any ever-so-slight trace of a blush immediately. Still, that feeling of Brad curled up to him that closely was really, really nice. A faint snicker tore him back reality.

Aya scowled at the broadly grinning telepath. Schuldig smirked back. "Should I bring you some cold water?" Burning violet-coloured ice stared back at him.

"Thank you. But I'm not that needy yet." The words came out rather clipped. _´But I _will_ be soon if he keeps doing such things.´_

That thought turned out to be too much for poor Schu. Making a strangled noise in the back of his throat, he stumbled back until he could lean against the wall. "Please… Stop…You two…" He started howling with laughter again, though he made sure that it wasn't too loud to wake Crawford in the aftermath.

When he looked up, Aya was clearly glaring at him. "What do you want anyway? Except laughing at us." Schuldig smirked back. 

"Actually I was just laughing at _you_. At Braddy, nur am Rande.[2]" He drawled. That brought him a risen eyebrow. Schuldig sighted. _´I really shouldn't use that much German around them. Wasted efforts.´ After all they didn't even get the point he was playing at. _

"Crawford's not involved with what I want to talk to you about. Much." That earned him another suspicious look. So he wanted to _talk_ to him? Aya decided not to let his guard down. Schuldig wriggled an orange-red eyebrow at him. "So are you gonna hear me out or not?" Aya stared a moment at him and then heaved a silent sigh.

"Do I have much of a choice?"

The German redhead grinned. "Nope."

"Thought so."

[2] just in passing.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"So, basically you're offering to help me get in a relationship with Brad?"

Schuldig nodded, his usual gleeful smirk plastered on his face. "Exactly. A bit of a long-winded explanation on my part, but that's the idea." He put an arm around the other redhead's shoulders. "So? What do you say?" Aya watched him with a cold, unreadable look before speaking.

"…Do you want to keep that arm of yours?" Schuldig furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Then take it off before I do it for you."

Schuldig wrenched his arm away as if burned. "Würd´ ich dir zutrauen.[3]" He gave Aya a sour look. Aya raised merely an eyebrow. Sighing inwardly, the German decided it would be better to watch his actions around the other. Didn't need his gorgeous plan failing just because of an overly distrustful Japanese, did he? Abyssinian's eyes got even colder, if possible. He definitely didn't trust the mind-reader, that was for sure.

Rubbing his arm, Schuldig´s smirk reappeared on his face. "My, aren't we snappish?" That earned him another bad look. He sighed. "Look, I'm seriously trying here to help you. That you want something from Crawford is pretty obvious. I just thought that you might want a bit of help since he's a really hard nut to crack."

He watched Aya´s reactions to this carefully. The redhead had leaned against the basement room's wall, his head lowered, seemingly considering his words. _´Come on…Say yes. I know you want him…´ Schuldig was more anxious to get his suspicious accomplice-to-be to agree than he liked to admit. But hell, if he wanted to push that through he needed Aya cooperating!_

"So?" He couldn't help pushing a bit further as the silence stretched a bit too long for his likening.

Aya finally directed his gaze back at the other redhead. "Why?" "Huh?" _´Why what?´_ Now it was the Weiß leader's turn to give him an impatient look. "Why would you help me?"  _´And why would he know that he's a ´hard nut to crack´?´_

Schuldig sighed. "You really should do something against that rabid jealousy of yours, mate." Of course he'd heard that last question. 

"I'm not your mate."

Schuldig just shrugged. "However, let's just say that I'm promising myself my own reward for doing this." Aya´s eyes narrowed. "That would be?" Seeing Crawford's face when he hears that I've been involved in this. As well as plenty of chances to get him into awkward positions. Schuldig could barely keep himself from snickering out loud as an image of one of those aforementioned 'awkward positions' came into his mind. Featuring the stiff American, along with Aya and a sudden lack of clothes. And then him with a camera popping in just in the right moment…Blackmailing material for more than nine lives! 

Noticing the more than suspicious look that this outburst had earned him, he quickly answered. "Nothing that concerns you." And, seeing that the other wasn't quite convinced yet, he added. "Soooo…, how much do you have in your purse?"

Aya´s violet eyes widened in surprise. "You're…proposing to sell him to me?!" Schuldig smirked. "Well, as far as I can see… yes."

Aya stared at him incredulously. Too amazed by the offer, he couldn't do anything than gape silently at the other redhead. Gods, he knew from Brad that they weren't as close as the members of Weiß were, but that…! Simply unbelievable! Remembering himself, he quickly let his stare change fluently into a distrustful glare. 

"Hey, it's not as if you're intending to harm him, right? There's no exchange for damaged goods."

The glare got thoughtful. Inwardly, Schuldig smirked. Just a wee little bit more… He knew that the kitty had the hots for their leader… Hook, line, sinker and… Aya started to go through the interior of his wallet, counting up the bills. Caught! Schuldig allowed himself to grin widely as the cash was handed over. Stuffing it carelessly into a pocket, he gave the silent Weiß leader a reassuring grin and telepathically added /Perfect. Just keep acting like always and leave the rest to me!/

With that he turned around and left the basement room, leaving a still very puzzled Aya in his wake. Blinking a few times, Aya felt a cold shudder running down his back.

_´Somehow I have a bad feeling about this…´_

[3] Wouldn't put it past you.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Crawford!! He's doing it again!"

Sighing in resignation, Crawford put the book he had been reading away and followed Nagi´s desperate shout. So much for spending a day without team-member influenced insanity…

Despite the fact that Omi and Nagi were working together now (heaven knew when that had happened), there was still some information left that had to be hacked before they could set out for a counter strike. Crawford assumed that they also wouldn't be done until the next day, so he'd planned on taking a good day's rest before the action started. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he'd fall asleep in the middle of a fight just because he'd been fooling around with Aya, right? Sorrowfully the American precog had (like so often) forgotten to include his crazy team-members into his plans… (Blame it on the fact that he didn't get that much sleep last night, ok?)

Asking the gods for the umpteenth time why, just why, it had had to be him to be struck with the other three mental cases of Schwarz, he followed the shout.

Of course, nobody answered. 

Reaching the top of the stairs, the black-haired teen could immediately make out the source of the telekinetic´s distress. Well, actually, he could hear it immediately. Schuldig was at it again. 

Sigh. _´How often did we go over this again?´ He winced as the German intoned an especially loud part of the song. Strangely enough, one could even recognize the words. It didn't diminish any of the suspicions of the American's as he heard his team's telepath sing: "Under the bitch, I give my life away-!" He figured that he didn't even want to know. Sighing again, he carefully edged closer to the source of noise. _

_´Well, at least you can make out what he's singing. I'm going to count that as an improvement.´_ Fearing for his poor, tormented ears, Crawford already stopped after a few steps. For everyone who hadn't guessed by now, Schuldig was singing in the shower. Yes, singing in the shower. The other three members of Schwarz had by now come to call it the ´psycho-terror-Schuldig-special´ and learned to fear it. (Yep, even Farfarello. It was a powerful weapon indeed.) It wasn't as if the German had such a bad singing voice, actually… Crawford just wished that for once, he'd find _one_ language and tune he wanted to sing in and keep at it. But sorrowfully… no such luck.  

By now Nagi was wishing for Schu to have gone mute, no wait, then he'd probably continue singing telepathically…! He was wishing for him to drop dead (darn Crawford for forbidding him to help it along), Farfarello with his sensible ears was wishing to go deaf, and Crawford was wishing that Schuldig would finally learn proper English, for that was the language Crawford assumed he was trying to sing in.

Except that particular part of the refrain, he hadn't been able to understand anything… Crawford was beginning to wonder if they were taking turns in annoying him. _´First Farfarello, now Schuldig… Nagi will have to make a real effort to top that.´_

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Schuldig! You may kill me, but spare my language, for heaven's sake!"

Aya was just halfway up the staircase when he heard the shout. The shop had been running unusually well – for once, most of the annoying, swooning girls were actually paying something - when the infernal noise had started.

Quickly ´excusing´ himself (as much as you can expect an excuse from Aya -.-;) that somebody must have left on the stereo, Aya had made his way to where Schwarz were supposedly to stay _without_ attracting further attention. So much for staying unobtrusive. 

Aya growled lowly at the back of his throat. He'd rather not think about how to explain to an enraged Manx or Birman just exactly _why_ they were currently housing their worst enemies. Well, Brad had already proven to be no great problem about that issue, but the rest…. On the other side, it usually wasn't Brad to make such a ruckus. That was when he heard the shout, followed by a muffled answer that (Thank god!) signalled the end of the singing. Obviously Brad had already taken measures of his own…

The redhead stopped at his heels as he suddenly heard an unbidden voice in his head. That itself wasn't such an unusual thing as his consciousness also tended to come like that, but it honestly would be the first time that his consciousness had chosen to talk in that special familiar, slightly-accented voice. /You called, Aya-chan?/ Aya involuntary flinched at the sudden invasion. Seconds later he frowned.

/I didn't call you. And don't call me that./

/What, Aya-chan? You know, you and Oracle are really going to make a great couple, Käztzchen./ Aya´s frown deepened.

/Since when are _you_ the sarcastic one?/ A chuckle. 

/Oh, every once in a while… A man has to get his little pleasures from somewhere, right?/ Aya barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at that answer. /By the way, would you mind staying like this for a few moments?/

Aya didn't have time to react to that overly innocent question, since the following happenings seemed to have decided to go all in super-speed. 

Brad had just rounded the corner and was now on his way down the same stairs Aya was still standing on, when they heard the faint click of a door opening. Seconds later a red-haired, smirking German was suddenly standing right behind the precog, giving him a not-so-unintentional shove that was sending him falling down the stairs…Right into Aya´s surprised arms.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

_´Goddamn- what is that unlucky fellow now up to again?!´_

The vision came just too late for Crawford to react in time. Seeing the shadowy blur behind him, he tried to turn in time- and got shoved down the staircase! 

"Oops. Sorry Crawford!"

Letting out a low yelp, Crawford felt himself falling, flailing desperately for something to hold on… And suddenly found himself hanging in midair, being stuck with his feet balancing on the very edge of a stair and his arms tightly wound around Aya´s chest and shoulders. – Giving him a dead-glomp while we're at it. Letting out a low growl that turned rather muffled since his head was buried against the crook of the redhead's neck Brad suddenly knew very well what Schuldig had been up to. 

All right, so he was here, dangling rather unceremoniously in mid-air with only one surprised Fujimiya Aya between him and the remaining way down, the situation turned to be a bit desperate. That Schuldig was on top of the stairs laughing like crazy at them wasn't exactly helping either. Well, what to do in such a situation? Feeling a faint blush creeping up, Crawford carefully disentangled first one, then the other foot from the stair. Of course, that ended up leaving him flopping against the stoic Weiß leader. 

Still being held in that tight embrace, Aya could feel his cheeks tinting as well. Brad still had his face buried against him and was currently silently cursing in several different languages. Schuldig was still laughing like crazy. 

"First comes kissing, then…"

An special loud growl was could be heard. 

"…and then… Uh-oh." And on went the merry hunt! On that day, they learned that a younger Brad Crawford wasn't only a bit easier to read, but also easier to anger – and to react to before said emotion.  

Despite Schuldig´s higher speed, it became a very close match since the clairvoyant always already knew in advance where the telepath was going to dodge and thus could easily aim at exactly that place. They were just in the process of completing their seventeenth round of the apartment when Schuldig decided for an alternate course. He quickly dove past Aya down the stairs, a furious Crawford still hot on his heels. Now we all know the inevitable result of trying to run downstairs (especially, when also enraged)… 

"-come here you crazy, demented…! I´m gonna – Fuck!!" Another fall. Another glomp. This time both were turning a rather curious crimson shade of red.

From below, Schuldig snickered. "Braddy, can't you restrain it for when you two are alone?" 

Letting out an especially imaginative curse, Crawford simply leaped over rail of the staircase, crossing most of the distance between him and the stunned German. Schuldig was astonished at seeing his usually calm leader performing a stunt that suited him more. Luckily (for him), his shock didn't last for long, or the precog probably would have gotten him.

So, they only continued their merry chase for about the next few hours or so. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"Oi, Yohji, you must see this! That's freakin-Oi! Watch it!"

The blonde in question frowned at Ken's call. _´Why the- What are they doing over there?´_ What seemed like fifteen hours ago, Aya had gone to stop the infernal noise that their ´house guests´ had been making, and ever since then the commotion had only gotten worse. Five minutes ago then Ken had volunteered to go looking and to back Aya up, if necessary. The noise hadn't lost any of its intensity since then.

Putting his usual charming lazy smile on, he turned to their customers. By now, he was the only one who was still in the shop and taking care of them. Not that he minded that much, since they were all female and rather nice, but sorrowfully… about all of them were still under age and so off limits. Also, this was slowly turning into real work. "I'm terribly sorry my dears, put I fear I'll have to leave you all for a moment." He just couldn't go without adding, as if on an afterthought. "They need my help by switching off the television." That earned him many giggles.

Sighing inwardly, he trudged to where Ken's head had disappeared seconds ago and carefully peeked through it. "Guys? Whoa!" He had to hastily get out of the way as an absolutely insane German redhead dashed past, an Oracle who was seemingly beside himself with fury hot at his heels. 

"Ne, isn't that a sight?" 

Yohji stared at Ken who had taken a obviously more-or-less safe post near the door. Next to him stood an amazingly unfazed looking Farfarello. From upstairs, he could see Omi and Nagi duck into the safety of their room as the wild chase went past them. Aya was standing at the stairs, carefully watching not to stand in the way of the two crazy psychics. Yohji gaped. 

"W-What happened?"

Ken chuckled. "Seems like Schuldig there tried to shove Br-uh, Crawford down the stairs, and Crawford got mad at him." 

Yohji´s green eyes widened. "Mad? Are you calling that _mad?" Ken just shrugged and gave him a sheepish look._

"He glomped Aya." 

Both Weiß members turned surprised to the pale albino next to them. "He…what?!?" One single, amber eye gave them a nonchalant look. "He glomped Aya when he fell down the stairs." Seeing their astonished faces, Farfarello couldn't help himself from smirking. "I think he tried to stop the fall…" he continued in his ghost-like, hoarse voice.

Amusedly watching, the Irishman noted the slight blush that was creeping on the brunette's face at that statement, as well as the light shudder of Balinese. If you asked him, Schuldig and Crawford were slightly overdoing it. 

Schuldig had started letting out short yelps (the stranger and sillier, the better) every once in a while, and Crawford wasn't exactly helping. Of course the lunatic knew that they weren't really fighting anymore. They'd stopped being serious quite a while ago, before Siberian had come to look after them. Just sparring, just like he had been the day before with Crawford. He watched Crawford promptly stumble as Schuldig decided to give an imitation of a police siren to his best in an overly nasal tone. It sounded so silly that Farfarello started chuckling. Farther up, Nagi had bit his lip to keep from laughing at his older team-mates antics. 

Even Aya was looking amused by now.

The hunt just ended as some time later, Schuldig tried to cross over the couch in a flying jump and got one of his legs caught at the backrest. It looked rather impressing, with the orange-reddish redhead first leaping gracefully over the obstacle just to suddenly vanish completely with a strangled cry. Even Crawford couldn't hold up his angry image anymore after that. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

When Aya returned from his shift in the shop later that day, his good mood about the silly chase had ebbed off long ago. What stayed behind were worries. Oh, the chase had been fun, really, the part when Schuldig suddenly had decided to take shelter behind ´Yohji´s strong shoulders´ (direct quotation)…Poor Yohji. The surprised blonde had looked like he hadn't known what hit him until it was too late. And Aya had been so sure that the playboy liked to be in the center of attention… 

But the good mood had quickly worn off when the redhead had remembered just exactly _why_ the clairvoyant had gotten that angry. Sure, being pushed down the stairs face first might have had some affect in it, but the precog had lost his temper just _after_ Schuldig had hinted at something going on between the two of them. 

As euphoric as the thought of Brad touching him that closely (and fully intentionally too!) made him, the fear that it had been just that which had upset the raven-haired teen that much. The thought scared Aya more than he cared to admit. It was unsettling to say the least. It was all the silly German's fault! _´If only I'd never listened to that god-damn id-´ /My, your lack in faith disappoints me./_

A frown stole its way into Aya´s features. He'd gone to the kitchen, as his team-mates normally tended to cluster around the living room during that time of the day. Either the kitchen or his room, that is, but he didn't want to risk running into Brad there. Now it turned out that all of his precautions to be alone had been in vain.

When he entered, Schuldig was lurching on one of the kitchen chairs while Farfarello was playing with the blender – probably preparing something new to shock Ken and Yohji. (Brad had had the decency to warn Aya of the white-haired man's strange antics.) A white towel was fanning the seemingly still-exhausted German fresh air on its own accord (courtesy of Nagi), and said telekinetic was discussing some computer-related topic at the back of the table. They could also be discussing the newest politics on Mars for all the redhead knew. 

"Cat got your tongue? And it's not nice to talk about people like that when they can hear you." Schuldig smirked at him. Aya´s frown turned into a scowl. 

"I have to talk to you." Schuldig rose an eyebrow, faking surprise. "Really? And about what?" Aya silently clenched his fists. "You _know_ about what." It came out as a low hiss. "Do I?" The German's grin was reaching from one of his ears to the other. It was met with a Fujimiya glare of death. Aya wasn't in the mood for such stupid games at all. "You do. Now. Immediately. Alone." The last bit was added after a short look at the two teens who had stopped their conversation and were now watching them with interest. Had he turned, he also would have noticed that Farfarello was listening carefully as well, though far less obviously.

Schuldig stretched with a huff in his chair, crossing his arms behind the back of his head in a lazy manner. /Can't we also do it like this? I'm too lazy to move./ Aya rolled his eyes, but agreed silently. Fetching himself something to drink, he thought sourly /It's your fault if Brad  never wants to see me again. After that stunt you pulled I can't even blame him for it./ 

/Whoa, wait a sec! Who ever said that he never wants to see you again?/

/You did get his reaction after you made him hug me, didn't you?/

/You can say ´glomp me´, ya know. ´Cause that's what he did, for certain. Latched onto you like dear life itself./ A snicker accompanied that comment. Violet eyes scowled at him over the brim of a cup. Schuldig smirked lazily. /Also, it wasn't just because I made him throw himself at you./ A fine deep-red eyebrow rose at that statement.

 /…? What did you say to him?/ The German's smirked turned satisfied. Abyssinian was quick to understand and process to new circumstances, like it seemed. A definite plus point in his little scheme. /Oh, just this and that. You know, nothing important… Just that he wants you to shag him into oblivion and so./ 

/You what?!/ 

/Well, something along that line anyway./ Aya resisted the urge to strangle the other redhead right there and then, a temptation which had suddenly increased to gigantic proportions. 

Seeing that particular nerve twitch near the Weiß leader's eye, Schuldig hurriedly added. /And it really looks good for us./ He actually looked somewhat sheepish at it.

/Oh yeah?/ Aya´s mind voice sounded more than suspicious. The smirk immediately returned. /Yeah./ 

Studying the Japanese with a beam, he said. /I think he likes you./ 

For a moment, Aya looked actually surprised. /You think?/

/I'm pretty much sure of it. 99.8%. I've pulled that joke on him every time we meet somebody new, and 'til now he never reacted to it. You were the first to trigger a reaction./ and with a smirk he added /and such a strong one, too. You're definitely his favourite Weiß./ Aya didn't know how to react to that. Hope and fear were battling a fierce fight behind his sleeves while he blankly stared at the mind-reader, obviously lost in thoughts. 

/You can always just go and ask him yourself, you know./ That comment sounded slightly irked. Obviously Schuldig didn't like being ignored. 

_´His favourite Weiß…´ _

Aya decided just to do that. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"… Brad?"

The black-haired leading member of Schwarz turned from his place on the couch to give Aya a mildly curious look. He'd somehow gotten his glasses from somewhere and was now busy trying to adjust them to fit his fifteen-year old self. They still kept slipping to the tip of his nose. 

Aya couldn't quite keep himself from smiling as he watched the great Oracle crossing his amber-brown eyes to glare at the stubborn device which had slid down once again. That gesture seemed far too innocent and naïve for somebody like him –or himself. Before that wistful thought could fight it's way on the surface he quickly stepped forward. 

"May I?" 

Brad gave him a surprised look, but handed him the glasses none the less. Avoiding making eye-contact, he spend the next few minutes with carefully bending the ear pieces of Brad's glasses until he felt that they should fit. 

"Try it again now."

Silently, the glasses were taken from his offering hand and slipped up in a practised manner. They fit snugly. Not sparing Aya a look, the precog stood up and walked over to the window. Looking outwards, he tilted his head circumspectly first in one, then in another direction. Seemingly satisfied he turned with a sudden jerk, making eye contact with the redhead for the first time since he'd entered. The glasses still sat exactly on their position. 

Making sure that the other would notice, Brad slowly moved his head in a grateful nod. Not much, but the precog knew that the other understood what he meant. Both men were equally stoic when it came to displaying emotions, so that they could easily read each other's little gestures and signs. 

Aya easily caught the light movement that caused his heart to make a leap upwards. After all Brad hadn't only accepted his –his enemy's- help, but also recognized and even thanked him for it. That was a whole lot more than one could expect from the one you had been fighting so ardently, just such a short time ago. The redhead also noted the light amused sparkle in Brad's eyes and the even more minimal curve of his lips that signalised that he knew that Aya had understood him right. And that his reaction to it hadn't passed by unnoticed. Suddenly Aya was grateful that he already sat. Almost unwanted, Schuldig´s words repeated themselves in his head again. 

When he turned Crawford noted with a hint of amusement that Aya was sitting right on the spot he'd occupied just short moment before. He wondered if it was intentional or coincidence. Being able to see the future made him very suspicious to coincidences of all sorts. He'd long ago learned that there was always more to them than met the eye. A way of thinking that had ensured his survival better than anything else. 

But he also knew that he could trust Aya.

The Oracle shuddered involuntary at the thought. _Trust_ him. How could he allow himself to trust anybody? Trusting the Weiß leader meant becoming vulnerable to him. Crawford couldn't do that. Couldn't let that happen. Still…he didn't hate Aya anymore. No, not at all. Another problem that had to be resolved. The American suppressed the sudden urge to sigh.

Sauntering seemingly carelessly over to where Aya was sitting, he studied his reactions closely. 

"…Why are you doing this?"

"…Doing what?"

"Being so damn irritating."

An amused smirk hushed over the Brad's dark features. "I don't know. It's my curse, I guess." Aya made a disbelieving sound that caused Brad to look amused again. "Well, knowing what's going to happen makes you react differently."  Aya raised an eyebrow.

 "Is that so?"

"Mm-hmm." Brad sat lightly on the corner of the couch next to Aya. Aya noted that the pre-cog kept a safe distance, though. The redhead wondered what had changed. It was Brad who broke the silence that had ensued first. "About what happened … …Sorry that I pounced you." Aya´s head snapped up at that, violet eyes wide with surprise. Brad Crawford was apologizing? The world's going to end. The clairvoyant was casually avoiding to look at him. After a long moment of staring, Aya shrugged his shoulders. "It's not as if you had much of a choice." That earned him an almost grateful look. Almost. Brad Crawford didn't go around looking as if he'd need anybody else's approval. Neither did Aya/Ran Fujimiya.

Despite better knowledge Aya couldn't keep himself from saying. "I'm just surprised that you didn't simply dodge." _´Please say that you didn't want to…´_ Brad shrugged, wearing a non-descript look in his caramel-brown eyes. "I knew what was going to happen." He made a sour face. "Just a second too late." Aya chuckled at that. 

When he stopped he noticed that Bras was watching him with a surprised look. "And you say that I'm irritating." Aya smirked at him. Brad returned it smoothly. 

They sat there, on the couch in middle of the apartment of Weiß, studying each other with an equally smug expression. Not looking down, but facing the other as an equal. It created a strange, almost unreal atmosphere.

"The almighty Oracle isn't as perfect as everybody else thinks?" The question was asked in an almost amused voice. No, forget that. It was definitely amused. 

The precognitive teen snorted. 

"There's no such thing as perfection. Being perfect is a flaw in itself."

There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Aya cocked his head slightly. "So you admit that even you can get surprised." The mischievousness turned into predatory. "Of course. But not by any normal mortal, and never more than once." A fine red eyebrow was risen. "Oh? And what Schuldig did today?" Brad gave him a serious look. 

"Do you really want to call _him_ normal?"

The corner of Aya´s mouth twitched. "Touché." Silence ensued again. "Hey, want to try it out?" The redheaded leader of Weiß frowned. "Try what…?" Brad looked a bit too smooth for him, sitting there and looking like he'd been planning this all the time. He might have a serious crush on the rejuvenated precognitive. That didn't mean that he'd gotten all blue-eyed about his temperament though. Schwarz stayed Schwarz, no matter how young and innocent looking. Not that Brad looked currently innocent in any way. More like a cat that had just eaten the canary. Brad blinked at him.

"Why, trying to surprise me of course. Let's see who's the better assassin between us two."

Aya gave him a confused look, seemingly surprised the he'd suggest something like that. "What does _that_ have to do with being an assassin?"

Brad shrugged, a smile playing on his lips. "Fine. Then how about a be-?!?" The pre-cog promptly eeped as he was suddenly grabbed and flung through the air. Suddenly finding himself seated squarely in Aya´s lap, he wasn't sure whether to curse him for not paying attention or for doing something as utterly embarrassing and uncharacteristic as to eep. 

Aya himself didn't know what to do. That right now had been sort of a rash panic action, prompted by his own insecurity and having Brad acting like that. Brad was sitting/leaning on his lap, with one arm resting on Aya´s shoulder to stabilize himself. One of Aya´s hands had found its way around the sleek boy's waist while the other was wrapped around his upper back, gently holding him in place. Shocked, beautiful amber-brown eyes stared at him in utter amazement. 

"I win." Aya smiled at him. Reaching forward, he softly pulled Crawford´s glasses off and set them aside. At this rate, Crawford didn't know anymore what shocked him more. The fact that Aya was smiling at him or his own reaction to it.

"That… wasn't particularly fair."

That earned him another smile. Crawford didn't need his glasses to see that it was genuine and truly heartfelt. Nor did he need them to realize that that usually cool eyes had suddenly turned vibrant with unspoken emotion. It made Aya looking hauntingly beautiful.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, he leaned a bit closer, never breaking eye contact. Barely he registered that his eyes had lid half-closed. "…but when's life ever anyway?" With that he completed the movement, kissing Fujimiya Aya, unofficial leader of Weiß, tenderly on his lips.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End Chapter 19

A cruel place to end the chapter, ne?´`´`

Huggles to Rei Eien (Well, what .did. you expect from me?^_^), Ryuke-Naoe(thanks for being such a good friend and beta^o^-even though I keep messing around with your finished work), Kyra (I hope I managed to answer all of your questions), Dje (thanks for reviewing!^^), stray cat (^___^), Yami no Tenshi (hope it's snugly enough^.^ also thanks for telling me about that mistakes. There you see the outcome of rewriting an already beta-ed chapter^_^;), Rei (my great translator *glomp* ^_____^), Blue6-Blood6J6 (thanks for being there!^o^), Aysen (thanks very much for your review!^_~) and last but not least Bea-chan for making me write again.^-^

Well, that´s it for now. Hope tat you had as much of a good time reading as I had writing!^_^ 

**Omake** (by me and Ryuke):

Schuldig: *leaps over the couch and trips*

Crawford: *leans over the back of the couch* O.O "Are you all right?"

Schuldig: *lies in a heap on the floor* *curses and asks what he _thinks_ he is* 

Crawford : ^ ^;

Aya: *glaring at Schuldig*

Schuldig: *smirks back*

Please leave a little review so that I know to continue this, ´kay?^_~


	20. 20 sleeping with guns under your pillow

Disclaimer: -.-; Picaro does not, under any circumstances, want to try and claim any rights of property on any character, storyline,… of Weiß Kreuz other than this story. (You can take the gun away from my head now…) What he certainly hadn't planned Chapter 20 

He gasped after the fist initial shock settled in, and Aya finally realized what was happening. He was kissing him. After what seemed to be an eternity of wanting to taste those faintly-coloured lips, he finally got to kiss them. Or rather: he was being kissed.

_´Mmm… feels good´_ Brad's lips on his, brushing over his own ever so gently… Amethyst eyes fluttered closed, as he pulled the precognitive psychic closer to him. 

Brad was right… Life really wasn't fair very often. When he considered how often he'd dreamt of doing this before by now and how he never found any good way to… And now this! There he was, the object of his affection sitting rather comfortably in his lap, _kissing_ him…! 

All he could do was keep himself from ravishing the Oracle right then and there. Instead, he just returned the kiss, tentatively at first, but more passionately as the black-haired boy showed his approval.

Tightening his hold around the others back, Aya was just about to try and gain entry with his tongue when Brad silently gasped against him, mesmerizing the redhead with pleasure. 

But before the redhead could go any further, a piercing shriek shattered the moment. 

"Aya?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Both guys' heads snapped in the direction of the scream. There stood Yohji, pale as chalk and seemingly horrified to death and beyond. For a moment they just stared wide-eyed at each other. A for a fraction of a second, Aya found himself wondering what strange sight they must be, with Brad draped over his lap like that. A faint blush threatened to colour his cheeks, but that reaction was interrupted when the Schwarz assassin suddenly got up from his place and, with calm strides, left the room. The redhead wanted to cry out in disappointment.

He must have actually made some small sound since Yohji had returned his disbelieving stare at him. (He had been staring after the retreating Oracle first.) The lanky blonde was the first to find his voice again. "Aya… what… You were KISSING him!?..!"

Aya shot him an icy glare that made him shut up right in the middle of his shocked stuttering. Right now the icy redhead felt very much like just killing the other one for ruining their moment. Damn! He was so close!! He really wanted to hurt him.

Yohji was becoming obviously nervous. "Uh-…" He sweatdropped. "I'll just leave and pretend this has never happened, ok…?" His voice was pleading. 

Not waiting for an answer from his team-leader, he quickly let himself out, stopping only after he'd reached the security of his room and locked the door behind him. There were many things he'd liked to talk with the redhead about, among other things the serious question of his sanity, but that look he'd been given… Yohji preferred staying alive just a bit longer.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"What do you think where you doing?!"

Tannin grinned lazily at the seething telepath. "Why, taking care of business of course." Jilocasin gave her an angry glare.

"Taking care of business? Taking care of business?! You ruined it!!"

The pale-blond female merely raised an eyebrow, though her misty-grey eyes darkened with anger for a moment. She didn't like being shouted at, but Jilocasin couldn't care less.

"Do you know what you did? You ruined my whole plan! Now they know about Memoire!"

Tannin yawned. "They'd have found out anyway." That was enough to stop the French telepath's rage for a bit. Instead of continuing to vent it out, he just let out a deep sigh and fell heavily into his cushioned chair. Regarding the female psychic with a weary look, he finally asked "Why, Tannin? I know that they'd find out about her sooner or later but I thought that we'd agreed to wait to show her until the ambush. You really have to explain to me why you sacrificed our advantage that eagerly, ma chere."

His voice was thick with accent; he didn't care for proper pronunciation right then. He just wanted to finally know why the telekinetic had not only broken her word and robbed them of an important advantage, but also what this was leading up to.  What she was planning.

"How did you get her to obey you anyway?"

"I told her that it was originally an order from you, and I was just a messenger."

Jilocasin gave her a blank stare before bursting out into a weary laugh. It held no amusement in it, though. "Seems like I really have to do something about the security in my team, huh?"

"I guess so." She sighed. "I'll answer your question – under one condition. You finally have to tell me what you're trying to find when you bury yourself with that damned computer all the time. You didn't even bother to erase our data before getting onto this mission."

She gave him a bright look. "You've been up to something, Jilocasin, from the very first moment you took this mission." The man's lips quirked into a short smirk.

"I should have known that you'd notice."

"It wasn't hard, really. You didn't even join the game I proposed to you. And you didn't join the first attempt to smash them. There was something that was more important to you. I'd like to know what."

He raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "All this commotion for that? You let them know about Memoire just because of that? You're overdoing it again."  Tannin shrugged. 

"I'm a woman. I'm allowed to be emotional." Her look grew icy. 

"You know that I don't like the feeling of being betrayed. You also know how I react to it."

The air hummed with raw power, making it hard to breathe. Jilocasin remained unimpressed.

"You just could have asked."

Tannin fell into laughter at that. "And missed all the fun? I thought you knew me better! But alright, if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to… Just don't forget our little game."

The French nodded.

"The first one who kills them gets it all."

"Exactly."

Jilocasin watched her leave. 

"Then I guess we'll better raise the tempo a bit…"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Aya sighed. Ever since that unfortunate ending of their last meeting, he hadn't seen any of them again. Yohji had successfully managed to vanish before the redhead had had any chance to show him his ´gratitude´ for saving him from the Schwarz leader's claws, nor had he seen Brad anywhere, which was far worse in the redhead's opinion.

H could live with the first one, but the second was a little more urgent.  Yohji could wait until they had a shift together again, but Brad… A light blush once again tainted the pale redhead's face as he thought about the black-haired psychic and the kiss they'd shared. It would have been a whole lot less innocent if that idiot Yohji hadn't shown up… Biting down a low growl in the back of his throat, Aya pushed the thoughts of his annoying team-mate aside. _´No, don't think about it. Bad Aya. You must not think about murdering your own team-mate…- !´ _It was very hard not to, though. 

Pushing any murderous thoughts about the blonde away, he tried to concentrate on more pleasant ones. Like that kiss… Somehow he was running in a circle.

There was only one possible solution. He had to find Brad! –and make sure that this wasn't just another one of his little, twisted mind games. The thought had hit Aya like a brick wall. What if all this was just another one of Schwarz's sick games, with him, Brad, and Schuldig as the main characters? It had been the mind-reading redhead who had proposed his help in this matter to Aya… And Brad hadn't been himself lately. Actually, he hadn't seemed to be himself most of the time lately, when Aya thought about it. Ever since Schwarz had reappeared.

Another mystery to wonder about following the elusive Oracle.

_´Here goes nothing…´_ Taking a deep breath, Aya entered the only room in the whole apartment that he hadn't searched for the pre-cog in yet. His own room. A small metallic sound echoed through the semi-darkness, provided by the half-closed curtains and the dying light of dawn. The redhead immediately froze. He knew that sound… Somebody had just unsecured a gun.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Brad was sitting in a comfortable position on his bed, looking as casual as one could while pointing a gun at the redhead's head. He didn't even bother to look and see who exactly had disturbed whatever he had been doing. 

"Close the door when you leave the room."

Anybody else would have at least flinched at the seer's cold tone. Aya didn't. Narrowing his violet eyes just a bit, the redheaded leader of Weiß simply closed the door, locking it in the process. Crawford didn't seem to acknowledge it or the fact that Aya was now standing right next to him. The gun's muzzle still remained pointing dead on the point right between the others eyes, though. 

"Are you going to kill me now?"

Looking up for the first time, Crawford just shrugged his shoulders. 

"Maybe."

There was no passion whatsoever in his cold voice. Aya´s eyes flashed with a sudden anger from deep within them. The way the redhead was obviously trying to control his voice told the pre-cog immediately that he must be shaking with feelings inside. 

"Why did you kiss me?"

A cold smirk appeared on his lips. "Revenge."  "Revenge? You kissed me out of _revenge_?" Aya was visibly irritated by now. Strange, was it just Crawford or did he somehow sound _disappointed_…?

For a while, Aya just stared at him. Than, suddenly and without any warning, the redhead was suddenly sitting on the bed, one knee on either side of the man-turned-teen's lower hips, violet eyes staring down at him, expression unreadable. 

"Than all was just a game? Another charade?"

The muzzle of the gun brushed slowly against the side of his neck, cold metal irritating sensitive skin, until it came to a rest just above where the redhead's heart was, gently pressing against the flesh. Not ready for the deadly shot yet.

Looking down, Aya took a deep breath. Brad was looking as beautiful as only he could be. The twilight emphasizing the darkness in his features even more. Well-aware bright eyes looking back at him; he was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. As beautiful and haunting as the unresolved riddle that he was. No, even more than that. 

"I know that you won't shoot me." A fine black eyebrow rose at that. "Oh? And what makes you so sure?"

Aya leaned forward and gently touched his lips against the other's. 

"This…"

Slowly, almost hesitantly, drawing away, he met Brad's strangely warm eyes. Brad blinked at him, his expression showing light confusion. It was strange, how one moment the black-haired boy's eyes could be so vibrantly full of emotions and yet be nothing more than expressionless shards the next. The trigger wasn't pulled.

Mesmerized, Aya watched as pale lips parted and the tip of a tongue darted out to lick up the taste of Aya´s lips. For once, Crawford seemed speechless.

Using this unique chance, Aya instantly leaned in for another kiss. First tense, the pre-cog's lips quickly softened under his. Biting down on them, he felt Brad's body tense against his. Somehow, his arms had once again managed to sneak around Brad's waist and chest, so that he was now holding him. Adding a bit more pressure, he felt the Schwarz leader squirm under him, making a small sound of protest that was immediately muted as Aya used the chance to gain entrance into his mouth. 

Aya groaned deeply in the back if his throat as he pushed the Oracle's lips further open, pushing his tongue deeper, tasting, licking, drowning himself into the others taste. At the nape of his neck, he felt the other's hand tighten it's grip, telling him that this didn't leave Crawford unfazed as well.

The gun clattered forgotten to the ground as the hand that had been holding it slowly went limp. Finally, when reality forced itself back to remind them that they still needed to breathe, they broke the kiss.  

"What… do you want anyway?"

Surprised by that question, Aya looked at Brad, curious. For somebody who was just smooched down by his long-time worst enemy, the Oracle was taking this rather good. His eyes betrayed him, though. From between ruffled raven-black strands of hair, those amber-brown orbs were giving Aya a look which showed not only distanced coldness, but also an underlying hurt. 

Aya growled inwardly. The pre-cog was still thinking that this was just some part of a manipulating game, wasn't he? The thought somewhat hurt and annoyed Aya at the same time. The annoyance was more dominant, though. How could it be that he still didn't get how serious Aya was about this? How could he doubt…?! His annoyance must have shown clear on his face, as the clairvoyant's stance suddenly got defiant. Ready to defend himself.

_´God, you really think like that, don't you?´_ Keeping his temper down, Aya forced himself to stay where he was and return the teen's glare calmly. 

"What I want? You really have to _ask_, ´Oracle´?" This earned him a reproachful look that told Aya that he'd managed to hit a sensitive spot. He immediately felt guilty for it. Damn! He wanted Brad to realized how serious and honest he was, not hurt him. But how things looked, there seemed to be no way to prove himself without the risk of hurting him. _´Damn you, Brad Crawford, for making all this so difficult. Damn you.´_

Not that he believed that, but he had to prove himself now, or he'd probably never get the chance again. So, he just gave Crawford a cold look and, forcing his voice to keep a controlled sound, continued. "Because I want to know… I want to know why you kissed me. I want to know how you can act like such a cold bastard one moment and be so- so much more goddamn vulnerable than anything else the next!! And I want to know what's bad enough to make you loose control like that…"

Taking a deep breath, he gave Brad a serious look, effectively silencing whatever retort the other had been about to say. Releasing the air with a sigh, the redhead allowed his face to soften. He just couldn't go all harsh on him again, not after that kisses…

"Brad… Quit acting. You're not yourself lately, it's obvious… You're screaming, loosing your temper,… You even chased Schuldig through our whole apartment just because of that puny comment he made…! Something's making you preoccupied, and apparently it's really bad… Something that confuses me.  I don't know what reason you have to hide it from all of us… I want you to let me help you, Brad."

He moved in for another kiss but decided otherwise at the last second and leaned his head instead against the seer's shoulder. Not really looking up, he said in a weary voice,

"But…most of all… I want to know just why I feel so good when I'm with you… and what I have to do to make you feel the same way about me." By now the redhead felt the severe urge to sink into the ground and die silently. Gods! He'd been wishing for this to happen for how long? And now, when it finally happened, he was talking such… absolute nonsense…waste… like that! If he had any luck, the pre-cognitive would just think that he'd lost his mind.

"Aya…" Gentle fingers cupped his chin, forcing him to meet Brad's amber-brown gaze. The pre-cog didn't look like he was thinking of Aya as crazy. The expression in his eyes… was strangely misted, yet, at the same time, unfamiliarly open and clear. 

After timeless moments filled with silence, the Oracle finally stopped staring into the redhead's violet eyes with a serious look. Sighing silently, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a look of determination had appeared in them. 

"Aya"

The redhead tensed automatically at these words, but immediately forced himself to relax. Stern, amber-brown eyes met vibrant violet ones.

"I… don't hate you."

Aya couldn't keep a small smile from appearing on his lips at these words. Inwardly, he was pouncing with joy. Maybe his love wasn't returned right now, but he and his feelings had been accepted. 

Which meant that he had a chance.

Aya wasn't going to give up on that.

"I know. Thank you, Brad Crawford of Schwarz." Leaning closer, he kissed the pre-cog again. This time, the kiss was returned.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

"And?"

At the question, Schuldig´s amazing blue-green eyes (switching colours depending on the light, the green's more dominant though) lost their distant expression and focussed on Farfarello instead. A smirk appeared on the mind-reader's face. 

"´s working from what I overheard of Abyssinian's thoughts."

The pale albino-like man gave him a half-amazed, half-impressed look. "You know,…" He rested his chin in one of his palms, "…I never thought that you'd truly manage to get them actually _acting_ on it." He gave his German team-mate a questioning look. "What did you do?" Schuldig smirked again, his trademark, bad-ass smirk. 

"Ohh nothing that great…" He grinned. "I just told dear Aya-chan that he's Crawford's favourite Weiß member." 

A white eyebrow rose at that. "I thought that you're unable to get past Crawford's shields." Schuldig´s grin widened. "I can't. But I didn't have to tell him that, right?" The lunatic Irishman let out a low chuckle at this. That's just like what the telepath would do. 

"Don't let Crawford know that."

Schuldig´s grin turned painful, momentary. "Ja… Knowing him, he'd probably hunt me down and kill me twice for it. Painfully."

"If not even more. Remember the chase today?"

The redhead turned his attention to the until-now-silent third in their little conversation. Nagi gave him a stern look. Schuldig grimaced. "Not if I have a choice. Der brächt´s glatt fertig und…[1]" He shook his head, making Farfarello chuckle again. Their leader's ´fierceness´ had been quite a surprise for the German…. and not exactly a pleasant one.

"Do you really think that that'll work?"

Schuldig blinked, for a moment taken by surprise. "What? Pairing up our oh-so-glorious leader with the Weiß icicle? Sure it'll work!" The mere shadow of a doubt on one of his plans insulted him. Nagi gave him an unreadable look. 

"I know. But what if…?"

Schuldig shook his head with a sigh. "I know, chibi. We're playing a risky game here, and we'd better not loose…. But still…," his smirk returned, "We're still Schwarz and whoever chooses to pick a fight with us better prepare himself for trouble! Right?!" He tossed the pen he'd found some time ago at the petite telekinetic. It stopped mid air just two inches before his nose. 

Farfarello grinned faintly. "Right!" Nagi frowned. The pen was circling his head in slow circles, reminding the pale lunatic a great lot of some satellite or space ship on it's mission. Well, every one of the psychics had his own way of showing his discomfort. Nagi seemed to like playing with things. Schuldig intentionally ignored the ´shuttle pen´.

"Right, Naggs…?" 

Giving him an exasperated look, Nagi stifled a silent sigh. "…right." Evading another loop of the pen, he patted the youngest member of their team onto his shoulder. "Exactly! And now…" He leered at the already suspicious looking, Japanese teen. 

"Care to tell us poor partner-less bishonen how it's getting on with you and Tsukiyono Omi?"

Nagi rolled his eyes at him. The redheaded telepath was horribly overdoing it once again. "Very well. By tomorrow, we'll have broken through all of the secret codes." Schuldig smirked. "I didn't mean that, chibi, and you know it." He winked at the brown-haired boy. "How are things between Omi-kun and *you*?"

Nagi gave him a cold look. "Private." Farfarello let out a low chuckle at the dumbfounded expression on Schuldig´s face. Obviously ´private´ wasn't the answer the German had expected. Schuldig gave him an overly-hurt look, pretending to be seriously in pain and successfully got Nagi to actually crack a faint smile for a few moments.

The telekinetic sobered up soon, though. Out of all the members of Schwarz, one could consider him as the most ´mature´ at the current point of time. Normally, that description would fit Crawford, but the Oracle had clearly his own problems to care for right now. Schuldig and Farfarello were… Schuldig and Farfarello. No further explanations needed. So it was up to him to keep things straight. 

/_Straight_, chibi?/ He could hear Schuldig laugh in his head over their mental link. /*sigh…* Baka./ 

"What I meant was…", Nagi was struggling to find the right words, "Aren't you two worried that they'll simply just kill each other?"

"Abyssinian?" Schuldig smirked. "I've read some of his thoughts. He'd rather die than let anything harm Crawford… And as for Brad-" He grinned widely as he gestured with some small, shiny objects that had somehow found their way from his pockets to his hands.

"-…What makes you think I wouldn't take care of that?" Grinning, he presented the bullets to his surprised team-mates.

[1] – He´d really be able and… 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

In another (by now familiar) room in the apartment, Fujimiya Aya halted in his actions as a cold, metal muzzle was pressed at the back of his jaw line.

"Brad..?"

Trapped underneath him, the cold pre-cog smirked at him as his fingers toyed with the gun's trigger, shortly before actually pulling it.

"Goodbye Abyssinian."

/Click./

One moment passed.

Another one.

And another.

As the expected pain and blood hadn't come, Aya decided that it would be safe to open his eyes again. (He'd instinctively closed them.) Twin-pools of amused amber-brown that were equally sparkling with malicious glee met his violet ones, clearly telling him that he'd, once again, successfully managed to fall into one of the other's traps. 

Smirking, Crawford pulled the trigger another time, just to receive a second fruitless ´click´. Seeing comprehension dawn on the other man's face, he allowed his smirk to wide until it even reached his eyes. This round clearly went to him.

"Surprised?"

His voice was all but a low purr. Aya frowned at him. "There are no bullets in the gun." Brad chuckled at the almost accusing sound in the redhead's voice. 

"Of course not, Abyssinian."

These words were accompanied with a sensuous look. Aya raised an eyebrow. "Hn. Is that so… Oracle?" Just a deep chuckle answered his question.

"It is."

They met for another kiss. Inwardly, Crawford couldn't help but smirk to himself. He'd known, of course. That had been one of the main reasons he'd decided to use it. Where the bullets had gone and who'd taken them… who knows. More importantly: who cared? Brad Crawford definitely did not and, as it looked, neither did Aya. Mmm…, was this a good time to mention that Aya was a damn good kisser?

The bad thing about seeing flashes of the immediate future was that he wasn't always able to see the whole thing, but merely glances of it. Sometimes those glimpses weren't enough to make a decision on whether it would be a bad or good thing to happen… One always needed to be prepared for all possible turns of events. It was also of great advantage to be able to adjust to new situations quickly… and to make the best of them.

Smirk.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

End Chapter 20

^_^ Gomen ne that this took me so long. Due to a rule on my school I had to spend the last month working, not leaving me with any time to continue my writing activities. Also I currently have to study for a rather hard trigonometry exam, so please be gentle with me and excuse the short length of this chapter. ^.^ I was trying my best, honestly!

Great thanks for reviewing to: Rei Eien, Ryuke-Naoe, PinkSpider, Elfsong, stray cat (^____^), wingedkitten, Yami no Tenshi, Shuo Ri, Blue6-Blood6J6, Seraph1, Dje, Kyra2, Sephykoi, SuzumiTenshi, chibicrawford, dark wings and Shirogane.^.^  Also great thanks to my two great friends Rose and Kim for proof reading this chapter and helping me to keep this from getting completely too OOC.´`_´` 

18-12-03: Sorry to say, I have currently problems involving my health that probably will keep me from continuing this story any soon. ^^; Yeah, I know I said something about getting the new chapter up till end November…Sorry! Some of the medications don't seem to work the way they're supposed to, and well, without them doing as they should, no complete cure! O.o I really hate my life sometimes… I´m working on the next chapter though.^^;

Important Note: 

THIS STORY WILL NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BE GIVEN UP, ABANDONED OR LEFT!! Thank you.~Picaro


	21. Chapter 21

Alright, first of all a great thank you and welcome back to this story. I know I haven't done anything on it for a very -cough- **VERY -**cough cough- long time, but I'm finally back again.

What he certainly hadn't planned isn't dead! -cheers-

Anyway, I finally came around doing something I've wanted to do for quite a while and –after the already completed chapter 21 of this story vanished without traces at the last times I moved around- I've decided to just go ahead with my decision and do a totally reloaded version of my story.

When you're reading this a new prologue and the totally rewritten first chapter will be up – please drop by to: new scenes, more shonen ai, less plotholes and the good old insanity that makes ´What he'd certainly hadn't planned´ to the crazy story it is. ;)

** Preview to ´What he certainly hadn't planned :Complete:´**

"_I AM. I AM DEATH, DEVOURER OF WORLDS, MURDERER OF UNIVERSES, FRIEND OF THE FRIENDLESS, THE ONLY TRUTH,…AND SO ON. YOU KNOW THE REST."_

_Crawford's irritation grew. _

_Oh, and by the way, Crawford had finally realize why he felt like he was falling._

**Preview End **

Thanks for all the time you granted me and my story.

_Picaro_


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